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ABELARD 


^f 


Edited  by  NICHOLAS   MURRAY  BUTLER 


ABELARD 


THE  ORIGIN  AND  EARLY  HISTORY  OF 
UNIVERSITIES 


BY 

.      GABRIEL  COMPAYRfi 

RXCTOB  OF  TUB  ACADBMT  OF  POITIEBS,  FBAMCB 

.  ^  2./7 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 

1902 


COPYRIGHT,   1893,  BY 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


-^  '■-*  -i-  3 


Education 
Library 

/-A 


PREFACE 

The  present  essay  has  no  pretension  —  as  its  size 
suflBciently  indicates  —  to  be  a  complete  and  thorough 
history  of  the  universities  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

To  write  that  history  with  all  its  details,  several 
volumes  would  be  necessary,  volumes  rivalling  in  their 
dimensions  the  enormous  folios  in  which  the  erudite 
have  massed  the  documents  relating  to  each  univer- 
sity—  as,  for  instance,  the  Chartularium  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Paris,  by  Pere  Denifle. 

I  have  merely  sought,  in  a  sketch  which  touches 
on  all  questions  pertaining  to  this  vast  subject  with- 
out exhausting  any  of  them,  to  give  an  idea  of  what 
these  great  associations  of  masters  and  students  which 
played  such  an  important  part  in  the  past,  must  have 
been  in  their  beginnings,  in  their  internal  organization, 
their  programmes  of  study,  their  methods  of  instruc- 
tion, and,  finally,  in  their  general  spirit  and  external 
influence. 

In  spite  of  the  bad  reputation  given  to  the  old 
universities  by  the  Hiimanists  of  the  Renaissance,  it 
is  impossible  to  ignore  the  services  that  they  ren- 
dered in  their  time.  They  constitute  an  epoch,  and  a 
characteristic  epoch,  in  the  history  of  education ;  and 
I  hope  that  the  young  and  brilliant  universities  of 


yi  PREFACE 

America  will  not  find  it  uninteresting  to  glance  back- 
ward at  the  history  of  their  predecessors  in  ancient 
Europe. 

In  any  case,  I  trust  that  my  readers  may  find  as 
much  pleasure  in  running  through  this  little  book  as  I 
have  had  in  writing  it.  I  trust  also,  that  the  literary 
dictionaries  of  the  future,  if  they  should  grant  me  a 
place  in  their  pages,  will  have  the  goodness  when 
they  mention  my  name  to  follow  it  with  this  notice : 
Gabriel  Compayre,  a  French  writer,  whose  least  me- 
diocre work,  translated  into  English  before  being 
printed,  was  published  in  America. 

Poitiers,  October  17, 1892. 


CONTENTS 
Part  I 

THE  ORIGINS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITIES 

Chapter  I  —  Abelard  the  Forerunner  of  the 
Universities 

PAGB 

I.   Testimony  to  the  influence  of  Abelard  —  The  transmission  of 
learning    from  Charlemagne  to  Abelard  —  II.   The  life  of 
Abelard  —  His  character,  his  eloquence,  his  method  of  teach-         '"'^ 
ing — His  audiences  the  first  great  assemblages  of  students  / 

—  III.  Abelard's  doctrines  and  point  of  view  —  Freedom  of 
inquiry  and  of  reason  —  His  method  followed  in  the  schools 
of  Paris 3 

Chapter  II  —  The  General  Causes  of  the  Rise  of 
Universities 

I.  Individual  and  general  causes  —  Spontaneity  of  the  growth 
of  the  first  universities  —  Popes  and  kings  protectors,  not 
founders  —  Exceptions:   University  of   Palancia   (1212),  of 
Naples  (1224)  —  Generally  a  long  local  evolution  precedes 
the  university  constitution  —  Specialization  of  studies  in  the 
beginning  —  Progressive  extension  —  Mutual   exchanges  — 
II.   Original  meaning   of    the  terms  universitas,   studium      \^ 
generate  —  ^ jiuiy.ersity  is  originally  an  association  of  stu-..*^ 
dents  and  teachers  —  General  association  movement  —  The         \ 
Commons  —  The  Crusades  —  The  trade-guilds — III.   Equal 
patronage  of  the  ecclesiastical  and  civil  powers  —  Universi- 
ties considered  as  an  instrument  for  the  propagation  of  the 
faith  —  Various  citations  from  pontifical  bulls  —  Universities 

vii 


Li  CONTENTS 

PAOB 

specially  constituted  against  heresy  —  IV.  Reasons  for  the 
royal  or  imperial  favor  —  Interested  motives  —  Preparation 
of  legists  and  counsellors  for  the  kings  —  Universities  not 
only  centres  of  studies,  but  also  of  political  action 24 

Chapter  III  —  The  Kise  of  the  Universities 

Various  and  irregular  origins  of  the  universities — Denifle's 
classification  —  Papal  or  royal  institution  —  The  universities 
often  grew  and  were  not  founded  —  Chronological  list  of  the 
universities  founded  in  the  thirteenth,  fourteenth,  and  fif- 
teenth centuries  —  The  university  movement  in  the  follow- 
ing centuries  —  II.  The  university -mothers :  Paris,  Bologna, 
Oxford,  iand  Salamanca  —  The  successors  of  Ahelard  —  The 
age  of  Robert  Grosseteste  in  England  —  Roger  Bacon  — 
Bologna  and  Irnerius  —  The  University  of  Salamanca  — 
III.  Influence  of  the  University  of  Paris  —  Universities  of 
Germany  —  Of  England  —  Of  Spain  —  Of  Portugal  —  Influ- 
ence of  the  University  of  Bologna  —  International  exchange 
of  scholars  —  Peter  Lombard  —  Peter  of  Blois — John  of 
Salisbury — Beginnings  of  the  University  of  Cambridge  — 
The  United  States  of  medisBval  universities 46 


Part  II 

THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  EARLY  UNIVERSITIES 

Chapter  I  —  Privileges  of  the  Universities 

I.  The  university  privileges  a  derivation  from  the  privileges  ; 
conceded  to  the  Catholic  clergy — Privileges  an  important  \ 
cause  of  the  prosperity  of  the  early  universities — II.  Tlie 
first  university  privilege  that  conferred  on  Bologna  by  Em- 
peror Fredericlc  I  in  the  decree  Habita  (1158) — Exceptional  or 
internal  jurisdiction  of  universities  —  Tlie  right  of  7ion  trahi 
extra  —  III.  Exemption  from  all  personal  taxes  and  contri- 
butions and  from  military  service  —  IV.  The  right  of  ces- 
satio  —  Historical  examples  —  V.  Other  minor  privileges  — 
The  privileges  and  immunities  extended  to  all  members  of  a 
university .- 73 


CONTENTS  ix 

PAOK 

Chapter  II  —  Nations  and  Faculties 

The  Nations  —  Public  character  of  lessons  in  the  university 
schools  —  Great  gatherings  of  students  —  Natural  tendency 
to  union  between  the  students  of  the  same  country  —  Consti- 
tution of  the  Nations  as  free  self-governing  societies  —  The 
Nations  in  the  University  of  Paris  —  They  constitute  the 
Faculty  of  Arts  alone  —  Other  methods  of  organization  — 
Advantages  and  disadvantages  of  the  distribution  into  Na- 
tions —  II.  The  Faculties  —  Original  meaning  of  the  word  — 
Specialization  of  studies  —  Growth  of  the  four  traditional 
Faculties  in  the  University  of  Paris  —  Faculty  of  Arts,  the 
first  constituted  —  The  superior  Faculties:  theology,  civil 
and  canon  law,  medicine  —  Tlie  "colleges "of  Bologna  — 
The  four  Faculties  did  not  exist  at  all  universities 96 


Chapter  III  —  Government  of  Universities 

Republican  and  democratic  character  of  the  universities  — 
The  election  a  general  rule  in  the  choice  of  the  officers  — 
Short  terms  of  office — The  special  privileges  conceded  to 
university  officers,  nominal  rather  than  real  —  II.  The  Chan- 
cellor: his  functions  —  His  authority  decreased  with  the 
development  of  the  privileges  of  the  universities — Rivalry 
of  the  chancellor  with  the  Rector  of  Paris  —  III.  The  Rector : 
his  powers  —  Conditions  of  eligibility  —  Mode  of  election  — 
Installation  of  the  rector  in  the  University  of  Bologna  — 
IV.  Other  university  officers  —  Procurators  —  Syndics  — 
Beadles  —  The  messengers  —  V.  Self-government  of  univer- 
sities —  General  council  of  the  University  of  Paris —  Separate 
meetings  of  nations  and  faculties  —  The  deans 114 


Chapter  IV  —  System  of  Graduation 

Examinations  and  grades  wholly  unknown  to  antiquity  — 
Graduation  is  an  invention  of  the  Mediaeval  Universities  — 
Analogy  with  the  apprenticeship  and  mastersliip  of  the  com- 
mercial guilds  —  Origin  of  university  degrees  —  Time  of  their 
institution  —  The  licentia  docendi  —  The  riglit  of  conferring 
degrees  assumed  by  the  ecclesiastical  power —  II.  The  three 
university  degrees:  bachelorship,  licentiateship,  mastership 


CONTENTS 

FAOK 

or  doctorship  —  The  bachelor — Various  meanings  of  this 
word  —  The  "  determinance  " ;  first  trial  in  the  Faculty  of 
Arts — The  bachelor  of  arts,  of  theology,  of  medicine,  of  law 
—  The  bachelorship  an  apprenticeship  for  the  license  — 
III.  The  licentiateship  —  Masters  or  doctors  —  Various  pro- 
cedures of  the  faculties  of  arts,  of  theology,  etc. — The 
conferring  of  the  mastership  a  ceremony  rather  than  an 
examination  —  Forms  of  promotion  in  Bologna,  in  Mont- 
pellier  —  Considerable  expense  attending  the  promotions  — 
Defects  and  abuses 139 


Part  III 

THE  COURSE  OF  STUDY  AND  THE  METHODS  OF 
TEACHING 

Chapter  I — The  Faculties  of  ^sjb 

I.  The  Faculty  of  Arts  at  Paris — The  Schools  of  the  Rue  du 
Fouarre  —  A  student's  _day's  work  —  Description  of  the  i 
school-rooms  —  Costumes  and  other  peculiarities — Ordinary 
and  extraordinary  lessons  —  The  bachelors  and  the  masters 
— The  disputations  —  II.  The  classic  books  —  Statutes  of 
Robert  de  Cour9on  —  Logical  works  of  Aristotle  —  Gram- 
mar of  Priscian — Books  reserved  for  the  extraordinary 
lessons — Works  at  first  prohibited  afterwards  authorized 
—  Intellectual  dictatnre  of  Aristotle  —  III.  The  methods  of 
teaching  —  The  exposition  —  The  questions  —  Defects  of  these 
processes  of  servile  interpretation  or  merely  formal  discus- 
sion—  The  scarcity  of  books  a  principal  cause  of  the 
methods  used  in  the  medireval  universities  —  Superstitious 
reverence  for  texts  —  Abuse  of  the  disputation  —  IV.  Mixed 
character  of  the  Faculty  of  Arts ;  a  school  at  once  of  supe- 
rior and  secondary  instruction  —  Modification  of  its  first 
organization  —  The  "  pedagogies  "  and  the  colleges  —  Impor- 
tance of  the  colleges  in  Paris — Tlie  lodging-houses,  hostel- 
ries,  and  colleges  in  Oxford  and  Cambridge  — Merton  Col- 
lege—  The  system  of  boarding-scliools  substituted  for  the 
old  liberty 167 


CONTENTS  xi 

PAGB 

Chapter  II  —  The  Faculties  of  Theology 

I.  The  Superior  Faculties  —  Primacy  of  the  Faculty  of  The- 
ology—  The  other  arts  and  sciences  assistants  of  the  divine 
science  —  The  Theological  Faculty  of  Paris,  the  model  of  all 
similar  Faculties  —  Its  authority  as  a  council  in  the  ques- 
tions of  doctrine  —  Federation  of  convents  and  colleges  — 
Dominicans  and  Franciscans  —  Foundation  of  the  college 
of  Sorbonne  —  II.  Books  and  methods  —  The  Bible  and  the 
Book  of  Sentences  by  Peter  Lombard  —  Exposition  and  dis- 
cussion —  Subtilities  and  cavilling — The  geometrical  method 
applied  to  theological  subjects — Aridity  of  this  method  of 
teaching  —  Criticisms  of  Gerson  and  of  Clemengis  —  Exam- 
ples of  the  questions  debated  in  the  theological  schools  — 
Relation  of  theological  and  philosophical  studies 199 

Chapter  III — The  Faculties  of  Civil  and  Canon  Law 

I.  The  University  of  Bologna,  the  first  centre  of  legal  studies      / 

—  The  civil  and  canon  law — Success  of  these  studies  in     i 
spite  of  ecclesiastical  opposition  —  Reason  and  consequence    / 
of  this  success  —  The  Popes  themselves  patronize  the  univer- 
sities of  law  —  II.   Irnerius   and    Abelard  —  The  Pandects 
of  Justinian — Knowledge  of  the  Roman  law  conserved  by  '• 
the  clergy  —  The  disciples  of  Irnerius  —  Vacarius  and  Placen- 
tinus — Accursius  and  Bartola  —  The  method  of  Irnerius  — 
The  glosssB  and  the  summsB  —  III.  Order  of  the  lessons  — 
Rules  followed  in  Montpellier,  in  Toulouse  —  Enumeration        » 
of  the  books  interpreted — The  corpus  juris  of  Justinian 

—  The  common  law  —  Minute  enumeration  of  obligatory 
tasks  imposed  —  Ordinary  and  extraordinary  books  —  Oral 
teaching — The  repetitions  —  The  disputations  —  Duration  of 
the  studies  —  IV.  The  canon  law  —  Faculties  of  decretal  — 
The  Decretum  of  Gratian  —  Other  books  —  Conclusion 214 

Chapter  IV — The  Faculties  of  Medicine 

I.  Unfavorable  attitude  of  the  Middle  Ages  toward  medical 
studies  —  Experience  neglected  —  Nevertheless  an  important 
movement  in  medical  studies  began  at  ^alerno  —  The  Abbey 
of  Monte-Cassino  —  Constantino  the  African  and  his  influ- 
ence—The statutes  of  King  Roger  II  and  of  the  Emperor 


xli  CONTENTS 

PAOK 

Frederick  II  —  The  School  of  Montpellier  —  Importance  of 
this  university  —  Influence  of  Arabian  Medicine — Italian 
physicians  in  France  —  II.  Books  and  Methods  —  Theoretic 
teaching  —  Hippocrates  and  Galen  —  Salernitan  books  — 
Other  modern  text-books  —  Odd  prohibitions  —  Medicines 
for  the  Soul  applied  first  —  Lack  of  practical  teaching — 
Dissection  rare  —  Surgery  despised 240 


Part  IV 

GENERAL  SPIRIT  AND  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  EARLY 
UNIVERSITIES 

Chapter  I  —  Manners  and  Habits  of  Students  and 
Teachers 

I.  Admiration  excited  among  contemporaries  —  Testimony  of 
John  of  Salisbury  and  Petrarch  —  Habits  of  the  students  —  ^ 
Eagerness  for  study  —  Privations  enSured  —  Relations  be- 
tween students  and  masters  —  Student  guilds  and  associa- 
tions—  Mutual  assistance  —  Tendency  towards  equality  —  -^ 
II.  Frequency  of  disorder  in  the  university  associations  — 
Quarrels  between  students  —  With  masters — With  citizens 
—  Turbulent  and  blustering  humor  —  Examples  of  riots  — 
Licentiousness  of  the  scholastic  life  —  Lack  of  elegance  and 
even  of  cleanliness  —  Ascetic  rules  —  An  oppressive  system 
finally  substituted  for  the  original  liberty  — Discipline  of  tlie 
rod  —  III.  Tlie  masters  —  Habits  of  pedantry  —  Some  irregu- 
larities of  conduct  —  Teachers  too  dependent  on  students  — 
Appointed  and  chosen  by  them  —  Salaries  of  the  masters  — 
Their  poverty  —  Consequences  of  this  —  Celibacy 263 

Chapter  II  —  External  Influence  of  the  Universities 
AND  their  Spirit  of  Freedom 

I.  The  universities  as  a  pu1)lic  force  — Political  and  social  influ- 
ence—  Domination  of  tlie  University  of  Paris  —  Democratic 
rules  of  university  organization — The  habit  of  perpetual 
argumentation  a  preparation  for  political  action  —  Com- 
mentaries on  the  Politics  of  Aristotle  —  Intervention  in  pub- 


CONTENTS  xiii 

PAOB 

lie  affairs  —  Political  philosophy  —  Clamor  for  reforms  — 
Conception  of  a  paternal  government  —  Intervention  in  eccle- 
siastical affairs —  Other  universities  —  National  character 
—  German  universities  —  II.  Spirit  of  liberty  in  the  old  uni- 
versities—  Free  language  toward  the  Popes  themselves  — 
Some  examples  of  independent  and  bold  opinions— Begin- 
nings of  a  new  spirit —  More  liberal  methods  of  study 
recommended  by  Robert  de  Sorbon  —  Protests  against  the 
discipline  of  the  rod  —  Preparations  for  a  new  era — Decay 
of  the  mediaeval  universities  —  Conclusion 287 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 307 

INDEX 311 


^^'. 


Part  I 

THE   ORIGINS   OF  THE   UNIVERSITIES 


ABELARD 


CHAPTER  I 
ABELARD  THE  FORERUNNER  OF   THE  UNIVERSITIES 

^  z  /  7 

r.  Testimony  to  the  influence  of  Abelard  —  The  transmission  of 
learning  from  Charlemagne  to  Abelard  —  II.  The  life  of  Abelard 

—  His  character,  his  eloquence,  his  method  of  teaching  —  His 
audiences  the  first  great  assemblages  of  students  —  III.  Abelard's 
doctrines  and  point  of  view  —  Freedom  of  inquiry  and  of  reason 

—  His  method  followed  in  the  schools  of  Paris. 

Abelard  was  born  in  1079 ;  he  died  in  1142.  The 
University  of  Paris  was  not  formally  constituted  until 
sixty  years  later,  in  the  first  years  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  And  yet  Abelard  has  been,  and  should  be, 
considered  as  the  real  founder  of  this  university,] 
which  served  as  model  and  prototype  of  most  of  the  ' 
other  universities  of  the  Middle  Ages.  There  is  here 
an  apparent  paradox  which  must  first  be  resolved  and 
explained,  if  the  title  given  to  this  treatise  is  to  be 
justified. 


Let  me  begin  by  establishing  the  fact  that  I  am  in 
accord  with  all  serious  authorities  in  attributing  to 
Abelard  a  pre-eminent  part  in  the  foundation  of  the 

3 


4  ABELARD 

/^  .  .  . 

great  Parisian  University.    "  The  man,"  Victor  Cousin 

has  said,  "  who,  by  his  qualities  and  his  defects,  by 
the  audacity  of  his  opinions,  the  eclat  of  his  life,  his 
inborn  passion  for  controversy,  and  his  rare  talent  for 
instruction,  contributed  most  to  increase  and  expand 
the  taste  for  study  and  that  intellectual  movement 
"^  from  which  the  University  of  Paris  issued  in  the 
thirteenth  century,  was  Peter  Abelard."  *  In  England 
the  same  opinion  is  held.  "The  name  of  Abelard  is 
closely  associated  with  the  commencement  of  the 
University  of  Paris,"  says  Cardinal  Newman  in  his 
interesting  essay  on  The  Strength  and  Weakness  of 
Universities.^ 

In  order  not  to  multiply  testimony,  I  shall  content 
myself  with  invoking  finally,  that  of  P^re  Denifle, 
the  learned  editor  of  the  Chartularium  Universitatis 
Parisiensis.  "Although  Abelard,"  he  says,  "taught 
long  before  the  constitution  of  the  University  of 
Paris,  his  method  of  instruction  for  the  sciences,  and 
above  all  for  theology  and  the  liberal  arts,  neverthe- 
less remained  the  model  which  the  future  university 
was  to  follow." '     . 

It  is  no  longer  a  question  whether  to  accept  as  true 
the  fabulous  origins  attributed  to  the  University  of 
Paris  by  its  earliest  historians,  by  Du  Boulay  *  or  by 

1  Ouvrages  in€dUa  d'Ahdard,  publics  par  V.  Cousin,  1836.  In- 
troduction. 

2  Cardinal  Newman,  Historical  Sketches,  vol.  iii,  p.  192.    Lon-         ^ 
don,  1889. 

8  Chartularium  Universitatis  Parisiensis.  Paris,  Delalain,  1889, 
t.  i.  Introduction,  p.  xvl. 

■•  Bulaeus,  Historia  Universitatis  Parisiensis  ab  anno  circiter        ^ 
800.    Paris,  1065-1673.    6  vols. 


rORERUNNER  OF  THE   UNIVERSITIES  5 

Crevier,  who  does  not  hesitate  to  say :  "  The  Univer- 
sity of  Paris,  as  a  school,  goes  back  to  Alcuin;  .  .  . 
Charlemagne  was  its  founder."  ^ 

Doubtless,  there  is  no  absolute  breach  of  continuity 
either  in  the  history  of  the  progress  of  human  thought, 
or  in  the  evolution  of  scholastic  studies.  The  three/ 
centuries  which  separate  Charlemagne  from  Abelard 
were  not  a  period  of  complete  inertia,  of  intellectual 
slumber,  of  absolutely  obscure  night.  And  it  would 
even  be  possible  to  establish,  as  has  been  attempted 
by  ingenious  and  learned  men,  a  sort  of  filiation 
from  Alcuin  to  Abelard,  which  would  demonstrate 
that  laborious  and  instructed  men  had  not  ceased  to 
pass  the  torch  of  studies  from  hand  to  hand.''  Bor- 
rowing the  biblical  style,  we  might  say,  Alcmnus 
genuit  Rabanum,^  Rabanus  autem  genuit  Liqjum  serva- 
tum;*  .  .  .  and  continue  thus  down  to  Roscelinus 
and  William  of  Champeaux,  who  were  Abelard's  mas-- 
ters. 

It  is  incontestable,  on  the  other  hand,  that  impor- 
tant schools  were  flourishing  in  the  ninth,  tenth,  and 
eleventh  centuries ;  those  of  Rheims,  Tours,  Angers, 
and  Laon;  that  of  the  Benedictines  of  Cluny,  under 
Odo  (879-942)  and  his  disciples ;  that  of  the  Bene- 
dictines of  Bee  in  Normandy,  with  Lanfranc  (1005- 
1089)  and  St.  Anselm  (1033^1109)  at  its  head;  and 
an  obscure  multitude  of  episcopal  or  monastic  schools, 

1  Crevier,  Histoire  de  I'  University  de  Paris,  1761,  t.  vii,  pp.  92- 
162. 

2  Monnier,  Alcuin  et  son  influence,  p.  189. 

8  Rabanus  Maurus  (776-85()),  a  pupil  of  Alcuin,  opened  a  cele- 
brated school  at  Fulda  in  Germany. 

*  Loup  de  Ferrieres  (805-882)  taught  at  Fulda. 
k 


4J  ABELARD 

established  sometimes  under  the  patronage  of  bishops 
in  the  chapter-houses  of  cathedral  churches,  some- 
times under  the  protection  of  monasteries,  in  which 
elementary  instruction  was  given.  These  schools  had 
succeeded  to  the  Schools  of  the  Palace  of  Charle- 
magne, "a  great  but  transitory  creation." 

But  neither  in  the  existence  of  these  schools,  nor 
in  the  hereditary  transmission  from  one  individual  to 
another  of  what  then  constituted  the  light  luggage 
of  human  science,  is  it  possible  to  see  anything  more 
than  the  remote  preparation  for  the  universities  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  and  not  their  direct  and  immediate 
'^'^  origins.  The  various  schools  which  maintained  them- 
selves after  the  unfruitful  efforts  of  Charlemagne, 
i  served  no  purpose  save  that  of  preventing  the  com- 
^plete  shipwreck  of  intellectual  culture.  They  might 
be  compared  to  a  Noah's  ark,  launched  upon  that  sea 
of  ignorance  and  increasing  barbarism,  to  preserve  the 
sacred  deposit. of  letters  and  sciences,  until  the  day 
when  the  carefully  collected  germs  might  again,  under 
circumstances  more  favorable  and  a  more  clement  sky, 

/find  a  soil  to  fertilize.     The  episcopal  and  monastic 
*~  f  schools  were  the  cradle  of  the  universities  in  appear- 

1  ance  only. 

^■^ Abelard,  it  is  true  —  when,  about  the  year  1100,  he 
arrived  at  Paris  for  the  first  time,  at  the  age  of 
twenty — was  a  pupil  of  the  episcopal  school  of  the 
cloister  of  Notre  Dame,  which  was  annexed,  as  was 

cxustomary,  to  the  cathedral  church.  But,  though  he 
attended  the  lectures  of  William  of  Champeaux  *  for 

1  William  of  Champeaux,  who  died  in  1121,  was  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  champions  of  Realism.    See  the  Abbe  Michaud's  work: 


FORERUNNER  OF  THE  UNIVERSITIES  7 

a  time,  it  was  only  to  separate  from  him  almost  im^f 
mediately,  to  attack  his  doctrines,  to  set  himself  up 
as  an  independent  opponent,  and,  changing  from  pupil 
to  master,  to  open  in  1102,  a  school  at  Melun,  and 
then  another  at  Corbeil,  until  such  time  as  he  should 
establish  himself,  "until  he  should  pitch  his  camp," 
as  he  said  in  his  boastful  speech  on  the  heights  of 
Ste.  Genevieve.^  This  single  episode  in  Abelard's  life  I 
is,  as  it  were,  the  symbol,  the  striking  image,  of  the  ' 
relations  subsisting  in  general  between  the  episcopal  \ 
schools  and  the  universities ;  the  latter  supplanting 
the  former  and  installing  themselves  in  their  place, 
or  at  any  rate,  relegating  them  to  obscurity  or  to  a 
secondary  position  while  awaiting  the  time  when  they 
should  absorb  them  completely.  "The  monastic  and. 
episcopal  schools,"  says  an  English  writer,''  "con- 
tinued to  exist  long  after  the  rise  of  the  universities ; 
but  it  is  obvious  that  if  the  former  represented  merely 
the  stationary  and  conservative  element,  while  the 
latter  attracted  to  themselves  whatever  lay  beneath 
the  ban  of  unreasoning  authority  —  all  that  widened 
the  domain  of  knowledge  or  enriched  the  limits 
already  attained — the  comparative  importance  of  the 
two  agencies  could  not  remain  the  same." 

Victor  Leclerc  says  rightly,  that  the  schools  of  the 
bishops  and  the  cloisters  "continued  to  flourish  at 
the  same  time  as  the  new  societies  of  studies,".*  that 

Guillaume  de  Champeaux  et  les  Scales  de  Paris  aw  XII*  Steele, 
Paris,  1867. 

1  ".  .  .  in  monte  S.  CrenovefsB  scholarum  nostrarum  castra  posui," 
Abelardi  Opera,  edition  Cousin,  1849,  t.  i,  p.  6. 

2  Mullinger.TAe  University  of  Cambridge.  Cambridge,  1873,  p.  70. 
,  »  Leclerc,  &tat  des  Lettres  au  XI  f"'  Hiecle,  i,  p.  302. 


8  ABELARD 

is  to  say,  the  universities.  The  truth  is  that,  without 
"diisappearing,  they  declined.  The  universities,  pro- 
tected alike  by  popes,  kings,  and  emperors,  replaced 
them  in  the  favor  of  both  the  civil  and  the  religious 
powers ;  and,  drawing  to  themselves  the  very  great 
majority  of  students,  they  were  destined  to  represent 
increasingly,  in  opposition  to  the  immobile  tradition 
of  the  older  schools,  the  forward  march,  the  move- 
.  <jaent  of  ideas,  the  progress  of  thought.  If  one  desires 
to  know  the  real  heirs  of  the  monastic  and  episcopal 
schools,  it  is  not  in  the  universities  that  he  must  seek 
them,  but  in  the  congregations,  and  the  various  relig- 
ious orders,  with  which  precisely  it  was  that  the 
universities  had  so  many  struggles  to  undergo,  and 
whose  members  they  never  admitted  within  their  pre- 
cincts save  with  suspicion  and  unwillingly. 

ll 

To  prepare  the  great  movement  from  which  the 
universities  were  to  proceed  something  different  from 
the  passive  transmission  of  certain  beliefs  accepted 
with  docility  was  needful,  something  other  than  cer- 
tain schools  of  theology  or  timid  dialectics  piously 
sleeping  within  the  bosom  of  the  Church.  To  begin 
with,  a  man,  a  scholar,  must  be  found  sufficiently 
Catholic  not  to  quarrel  with  the  received  dogmas,  but 
nevertheless  bold  enoixgh  to  open  new  paths  for  him- 
self, and,  at  the  same  time,  powerful  enough,  both  in 
speech  and  in  thought,  to  move  minds,  arouse  the 
taste  for  study,  assemble  great  audiences,  and  finally, 
by   his   success   as   an   instructor,   establish   a   great 


FORERUNNER   OF   THE   UNIVERSITIES  9 

intellectual  movement.  A  short  sketch  of  the  life  / 
and  work  of  Abelard  will  show  how  this  programme  / 
was  accomplished. 

It  is  difficult,  by  a  mere  perusal  of  Abelard's  works, 
to  understand  the  effect  he  produced  upon  his  hearers 
by  the  force  of  his  argumentation,  whether  studied 
or  improvised,  and  by  the  ardor  and  animation  of  his 
eloquence,  and  the  grace   and  attractiveness   of  his 
person.     But  the  testimony  of  his  contemporaries  isHL 
unanimous ;    even  his  adversaries  themselves  render  I 
justice  to  his  high  oratorical  qualities.     No  one  ever  I 
reasoned  with  more  subtlety,  or  handled  the  dialectic      ^ 
tool  with  more  address ;  and  assuredly,  something  of 
these  qualities  is  to  be  found  in  the  writings  he  has 
left  us.     But  the  intense  life,  the  enthusiastic  ardor  \ 
which   enlivened    his   discourses,  the   beauty   of  his 
face,  and  the  charm  of  his  voice  cannot  be  imparted 
by  cold  manuscripts.     Heloise,  whose  name  is  insepar*^ 
rably  linked  with  that  of  her  unfortunate  husband, 
and  whom  Charles  de  Rdmusat  does  not  hesitate  to 
call  "  the  first  of  women  " ;  *  who,  in  any  case,  was  a, 
superior  person  of  her  time ;  Heloise,  who  loved  Abe- 
lard with  "an  immoderate   love,"^  and   who,   under 
the  veil  of  a  religieuse  and  throughout  the  practice 
of  devotional  duties,  remained  faithful  to  him  until 
death;  Heloise  said  to  him  in  her  famous  letter  of 
1136:  "Thou  hast'  two  things  especially  which  could 
instantly  win  thee  the  hearts  of  all  women :  the  charm 

1  Charles  de  Re'musat,  Abelard.    Paris,  1845.    t.  i,  p.  262 
*  ".  .  .  te  immoderato  amore  complexa  sum,"  Abelardi  Opera, 
edition  Cousin,  t.  i,  p.  74. 

dictandi  videlicet  et  cantandi  gratia,"  Ibid.,  p.  76. 


/- 


10  ABELARD 

thou  knowest  how  to  impart  to  thy  voice  in  speaking, 

and  in  singing/^^ 

>— Exte^ial  gifts  combined  with  intellectual  qualities  / 
Ito  make  of  Abelard  an  incomparable  seducer  of  minds 
/and  hearts.     Add  to  this  an  astonishing  memory,  a 
I  knowledge  as  profound  as  was  compatible  with  the  re- 
sources of  his  time,  and  a  vast  erudition  which  caused 
his  contemporaries  to  consider  him  a  niaster  of  uni- 
versal knowjledge.^     It  was  not  merely  the  weapons  of 
/    a  skilful  but  barren  logic  that  he  had  recourse  to  when 
he  desired  to  convince;  nourished  on  the  perusal  of 
Latin  orators  and  poets,  he  embellished  his  discourses 
with  literary  digressions,  classical  allusions,  and  quo- 
tations from  Horace  or  from  Vergil.     A  poet  himself 
when   at   forty   years    of  age   he   fell   in   love   with 
,-Heloise,  renewing  his  youth  through  love  and  repeat- 
ing the  drama  of  Faust,  he  composed  love-songs  in 
the  common  tongue,  which  became  very  popular. 

We  must  not  omit  to  signalize  the  intrepidity  of  his 
ardent  character,  always  ready  to  attack  or  to  defend, 
provoking  controversy  rather  than  seeking  to  appease 
it;  in  a  word,  the  adventurous  and  militant  temper 
wherein  one  recognizes  the  innovator.  Charles  de 
R^musat  represents  Abelard  before  he  was  twenty,  i 
as  "wandering  over  the  provinces,  seeking  masters 
and  adversaries,  going  from  controversy  to  contro- 
versy,   a   veritable    knight-errant    of    philosophy."^! 

1  Abelard  avowed,  however,  that  he  did  not  know  Greek  and 
that  he  had  failed  in  the  stndy  of  mathematics. 

2  Abelard,  in  his  first  letter  to  Hcloise,  which  is  like  the  history 
of  his  life,  historia  calamitatum,  himself  writes:  "  Diversas  dis- 
putando  perfmibulans  provincias,  peripateticorum  semulator  /ac- 
tus sum,"  Abelardi  Opera,  p.  4. 


FORERUNNER   OF   THE   UNIVERSITIES  11 

Later  on,  when  in  1101  he  dared  to  contradict  and 
succeeded  in  refuting  William  of  Champeaux,  then  at 
the  height  of  his  power  and  reigning  as  a  sovereign 
in  the  school  of  the  cloister  of  Notre  Dame;  and 
when,  in  1114,  he  went  to  attack  on  his  own  ground, 
in  his  school  at  Laon,  in  the  midst  of  his  pupils, 
stupefied  at  such  audacity,  the  old  Anselm  of  Laon, 
himself  a  pupil  of  St.  Anselm,  and  who  at  this  epoch 
held  "the  sceptre  of  theology,"  was  he  not  armed 
with  extraordinary  courage,  this  young  philosopher 
who,  without  other  title  than  his  genius,  endowed 
by  no  one  with  the  right  to  teach,  avowing  himself 
without  a  master,  —  sme  magistro,  as  his  enemies 
reproached  him  with  being,  —  found  in  himself  the 
needful  inspiration  to  undertake  the  most  formidable 
controversies  and  to  triumph  in  them  ? 

Victory  then  accompanied  and  encouraged  his  ef- 
forts. But,  when  the  hours  of  his  disgrace  arrived, 
when  the  hostility  of  churchmen  whom  he  had  af- 
frighted and  troubled  in  their  repose,  arraigned  him 
successively  before  two  Councils,  that  of  Soissons  in 
1121,  and  that  of  Sens  in  1140,  to  listen  to  the  con- 
demnation of  his  heresies ;  did  he  not  give  proof  even 
in  his  defeat,  of  an  energy,  a  force  of  soul,  rare  at  all 
times,  but  almost  unknown  in  epochs  of  blind  submis- 
sion and  theocratic  terror  ? 

At  Soissons  he  was  not  disconcerted,  even  in  the 
midst  of  a  fanatical  populace  who  accused  him  of  hav- 
ing preached  that  there  were  three  Gods,  on  account 
of  the  interpretation  he  gave  to  the  dogma  of  the 
Trinity,  and  who  were  on  the  point  of  stoning  some  of 
his  disciples ;  and  he  embarrassed  his  accusers  by  the 


12  ABELARD 

boldness  of  liis  replies  and  his  haughty  countenance. 
i  Condemned  notwithstanding,  obliged  to  burn  his  books 
\  with  his  own  hands,  confined  as  a  prisoner  in  the  con- 
1  vent  of  St.  Medard,  it  was  only  in  appearance  that  he 
Dowed  before  the  indisputable  authority  of  a  sovereign 
tribunal ;  in  reality,  trembling  with  rage  under  the 
yoke  imposed  upon  him,  "bound,"  according  to  the 
expression  of  an  author  of  the  day,  "  like  a  wild  rhi- 
'  noceros,"  he  persevered  in  his  independent  thought 
and  his  personal  faith;  just  as,  though  shut  up  in  the 
cloister  of  Argenteuil,  Heloise  persevered  in  her  love. 
At  Sens,  grown  old  and  tired,  at  odds  with  St. 
Bernard  who  occupied  a  commanding  position  in  the 
Church,  —  with  that  man,  superior  likewise,  but  su- 
perior solely  by  the  sanctity  of  his  life  and  the 
ardor  of  his  devotion,  and  who  was,  in  a  word,  only 
"  a  monk,"  —  Abelard,  it  is  true,  appeared  to  fail. 
Instead  of  defending  himself,  he  retired,  restricting 
himself  to  declaring  that  he  recognized  no  judge  but 
the  Roman  Pontiff.  His  persecutors  publislied  that 
he  had  been  intimidated,  seized  with  a  miraculous  con- 
fusion. Is  it  not  more  likely  that,  feeling  himself 
condemned  in  advance  before  an  assembly  of  openly 
hostile  prelates,  and  unwilling  to  confess  himself  de- 
feated, the  rationalistic  Christian,  were  it  merely  to 
retard  his  discomfiture,  appeals  to  the  Pope,  as  the 
rationalistic  philosophers  appeal  later  on  to  eternal 
truth  and  justice  ? 

The  sketch  I  am  making  would  be  incomplete  if 

it  failed  to  note  a  final  trait  of  Abelard's  character : 

his  confidence  in  himself,  his  presumptuous  assurance. 

[Abelard  is  not  a  studious  m;i,n,  devoting  himself  to 


FORERUNNER  OF  THE  UNIVERSITIES  13 

the  search  after  truth  in  the  silence  and  solitude  of  his? 
chamber ;  he  is  a  combatant,  eager  for  glory  and  for  1 
power.     After  the  scandal  of  his  amours  with  Heloise,  / 
after  the  atrocious  mutilation  to  which  he  had  been 
subjected,  another  man,  less  strongly  tempered,  would 
have   thought   of  nothing  but   hiding   his   shame  in 
retreat.     But  Abelard,  in  his  ambitious  activity,  could 
not  resign  himself  to  repose,  and  a  year  after  his  cruel 
adventure,  in  1120,  he  opened  a  new  school  in  Cham-I 
pagne  and  there  won  again  his  past  victories.    "Therej 
was  in  this  man,"  says  Charles  de  Remusat,  "some- 
what of  the  insolence  of  those  natures  born  for  com- 
mand and  royalty."    Greatly  attached  to  his  opinions^'T 
greatly  in  love  with  his  own  discernment,  intoxicated   : 
moreover,  as  it  were,  with  the  enthusiastic  homage  of 
his  pupils,  he  had  none  of  the  humility,  nor  even  of 
the  modesty  which  the  habit  of  intellectual  docility 
rendered  easy  to   his   contemporaries.     He   went   so 
far  as  to  write  that  he  considered  himself  the  only 
philosopher  of  his  time ;  ^  but  for  that  matter,  if  he  was 
wrong  to  say  it,  perhaps  he  was  right  in  thinking  it. 

How  can  one  be  astonished  that  with  such  qualities 
Abelard  gained  an  extraordinary  ascendency  over  his 
age ;  that,  having  become  the  intellectual  ruler  and, 
as  it  were,  the  dictator  of  the  thought  of  the  twelfth  ^ 
century,  he  should  have  succeeded  in   attracting   to  \ 
his  chair  and  in  retaining   around   it  thousands   of  ( 
young  men ;   the  first  germ  of  those  assemblages  of 
students  who  were  to  constitute  the  universities  sev-    ' 
eral  years  later  ? 

^  "  .  .  .  quwnjam  me  solum  in  mundo  superesse  philosophum 
tBStimarem,"  Abelardi  Opera,  t.  i,  p.  9, 


U  ABELARD 

)      Abelard,  in  spite  of  the  vicissitudes  of  his  existence, 

^w^s,  above  all  things,  a  professor.^     Let  me  recall  in 

a  few  words,  the  principal   stages  in  his  career.     I 

have  already  stated  that  by  1102  he  had  taught  at 

Melun,  then  at  Corbeil,  from  whence,  nearer  to  Paris, 

"he  delivered  the  assault,  so  to  say,  on  the  citadel 

of  the  school  of  Notre  Dame."     This  assault  became 

still   more   vigorous   when,   in   1108,   he  established 

himself  in  Paris  on  the  Mount  of   Ste.  Genevieve, 

"  that  hill  destined  to  become  the  Sinai  of  university 

instruction,"  where  schools  were  already  in  existence 

which  competed  freely  with  the  official  school  of  the 

^ty.     It  was  at  this  period  that  William  of  Cham- 

peaux,   discouraged  by  the   growing   success   of  his 

pupil,  definitely  quitted  the  cloister  of  Notre  Dame, 

at  first  to  found,  at  the  gates  of  Paris,  a  congregation 

which  became  the  celebrated  Abbey  of  St.  Victor,  but 

afterwards  to  become  the  Bishop  of  Ch§,lons-sur-Marne. 

I  He  left  the  place  free  to  his  rival,  and  it  is  about 

1III3  that  we  find  Abelard  at  last  installed  in  the 

(school  of  the  city,  reigning  as  master  of  instruction  in 

la  town  which  was  already  the  intellectual  capital  of 

^Europe,  and  realizing  thus  the  dream  of  his  youth : 

cud  scholarum  regimen  culolescentuhis  aspirdbam.^ 

This  was  the  most  brilliant  period  of  his  life:    it 
lasted  but  a  few  years,  being  interrupted  after  1118 


1  It  is  not  known  at  what  date  Abelard  became  a  priest.  He  was 
probably  not  one  at  the  time  of  his  marriage  with  Hcloise ;  this  is 
not  proved,  however.  He  has  himse^jw^Macdi  t^  opipioQ  that  a 
priest  may  marry.    Abelardi  Opera^K,  p.  16.  ^^^HHHKji^jf 

2  "  He  obtained  the  chair  of  the  cloister,  to  which  henad  long 
aspired,  and  he  taught  there  at  the  same  time  theology  and  phi- 
losophy.   Crevier,  op.  cit.,  t.  i,  p.  127." 


FORERUNNER  OF  THE  UNIVERSITIES  16 

by  the  scandal  of  his  liaison  with  Heloise.  But  from 
1120,  after  some  months  of  meditation  spent  at  the 
Abbey  of  St.  Denis,  he  felt  again  the  need  for  action ; 
he  installed  himself  in  the  Priory  of  Maisoncelle,  in 
Champagne,  where,  it  is  said,  he  was  surrounded  by 
three  thousand  students.  Then,  after  new  disturb- 
ances, after  the  condemnation  pronounced  by  the 
Council  of  Soissons,  after  a  "^^^^^^^^jJllJIHHSMHH 
ney  from  convent  to  convent,  he  fflOTMnec^ffo^^ne 
King,  Louis  the  Fat,  and  from  his  ministers,  Stephen 
de  Garlande  and  Suger,  permission  to  establish  him- 
self in  a  retreat  of  his  own  choice.  Koyalty  in  t£el 
twelfth  century,  resuming  the  role  and  experiencing 
anew  the  inspirations  of  Charlemagne,  seems  from 
this  period  to  have  been  conscious  of  its  duties 
towards  learning  and  scientific  men;  and  the  pro- 
tection granted  by  the  ministers  of  Louis  the  Fat 
to  Abelard,  persecuted  by  the  Church,  is  the  preliide 
to  the  privileges  granted  to  the  universities  by  the 
princes  of  the,thirteenth  century.  — • 

Thanks  to  the  royal  favor,  Abelard  was  able  to  fix  | 
his   residence  without   hindrance  in   a   desert   place  ' 
belonging  to  the  territory  of  Troyes,  and  there,  in 
some  fields  which  were  given  him,  he  built  an  oratory.^ 
of  stubble  which   he   called  the  Paraclete,  the  Covi- 
forter.     He  had  come  there  alone,  save  for  one  pupil. 
But  his  retreat  was  soon  known ;  students  flocked  to 
him  anew,  pursuing  their  regretted  master  even  to 
the  wilderness  where  he  had  hfdden  himself.     "Citiqa,. 
and  castles  were  deserted  for  this  Thebaid  of  science. 
Tents  were  set  up ;  mud  walls,  covered  with  moss,  rose 
to  shelter  the  numerous  disciples  who  slept  on  the 


le  ABELARD 

grass  and  nouristed  themselves  with  rustic  dishes 
and  coarse  bread."  ^  The  instruction  given  at  this 
School  of  the  Paraclete,  marvellously  opened  in  the 
midst  of  fields,  was   continued  from  1122  to  1125. 

fBut  this  new  success  called  forth  new  attacks  which 
tpaddened  all  the  latter  part  of  Abelard's  life.  He  was 
to  reappear  only  once  more,  in  1136,  in  his  chair  at 
Paris,  the  first  theatre  of  his  glory,  ardent  as  ever, 
in  spite  of  his  fifty-seven  years,  and  followed  still  by 
the  sympathy  of  his  hearers.  It  was  at  this  epoch 
that  he  had  John  of  Salisbury  '^  as  a  pupil,  whose  tes- 
timony is  precious  to  recall.  "I  repaired,"  he  says, 
"  to  the  country  of  the  Palatin  ^  peripatetic,  who  was 
then  presiding  on  Mount  Ste.  Genevieve,  an  illustrious 

-  doctor,  admirable  for  everything.  ...  There,  at  his 
feet,  I  received  the  first  elements  of  the  dialectic  art, 
and,  according  to  the  measure  of  my  feeble  under- 
standing, I  gathered  up,  with  all  the  avidity  of  my 
soul,  everything  that  proceeded  from  his  mouth." 

Up  to  the  last  day  of  his  teaching,  then,  Abelara    f 
was  the  uncontested  master,  the  professor  par  excel-  f^ 
lence.     In  a  time  when  there  was  neither  publicity 
nor  advertising,  and  renown  could  only  be  established 
slowly  and  from  place  to  place  by  conversation  and 

1  Charles  de  R^musat,  op.  cit.,  p.  108. 

2  John  of  Salisbury  (1110-1174),  an  English  monk,  became  secre- 
tary to  St.  Thomas  Backet,  afterwards  to  Alexander  III,  and  finally 
Bishop  of  Chartres.  He  wrote  numerous  works,  among  others  the 
Metulogicus,  which  is  a  plea  for  literary  studies. 

*  Abelard  was  born  near  Nantes,  in  the  town  of  Pallet  or  Palais, 
whence  the  name  of  Palatin  given  him  by  John  of  Salisbury.  It  is 
known  that  "Abelard"  is  only  a  surname,  the  origin  of  which  is 
much  disputed.    See  B^musat,  op.  cit.,  p.  171. 


FORERUNNER  OF  THE   UNIVERSITIES  17 

oral ,  accounts,  he  nevertheless  acquired  both  glory 
and  popularity.  Wherever  he  went,  says  Cousin, 
he  seemed  to  carry  reputation  and  a  crowd  along 
with  him.  He  attracted  such  a  vast  number  of  hear- 
ers, not  only  from  all  parts  of  France,  but  even  of 
Europe,  that,  as  he  says  himself,  the  inns  were  not 
sufficient  to  contain  them,  nor  the  earth  to  feed  them. 
**  No  idea  can  be  given  of  the  effect  he  produced  in 
teaching  philosophy,  and  never  does  any  science  seem 
to  have  had  a  more  powerful  propagandist.  As  the 
head  of  a  school  he  recalls,  if  he  does  not  efface,  for 
brilliancy  and  ascendency  the  success  of  the  great 
philosophers  of  Greece."  ^  But  however  flattering 
this  comparison  may  be  —  for  nobody  dreams  of  mak- 
ing Abelard  equal  with  Socrates  or  Plato  —  it  still 
does  injustice,  nevertheless,  to  what  was  particularly 
characteristic  in  the  great  assemblages  of  men  who 
thronged  about  the  professor  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
The  great  philosophers  of  antiquity  had  only  a  veiy'lj 
small  number  of  pupils.  Around  Abelard  there  was  ' 
a  multitude  of  human  beings ;  there  were  more  than  ; 
five  thousand  pupils  in  his  school  at  Paris.  His  | 
school  was  open  to  every  comer  and  entered  by  who- 
ever willed,  as  is  sliown  by  the  anecdote  of  a  youn^ 
student,  the  pupil  of  William  of  Champeaux,  of 
whom  the  Church  has  made  a  saint,  St.  Gosvin,  who, 
in  1108,  desiring  to  try  conclusions  with  Abelard, 
bravely  entered  the  school  on  Mount  Ste.  Genevieve 
while  the  master  was  speaking,  and  making  a  sign 
that  he  wished  to  say  something,  drew  upon  himself 
this  apostrophe :  "  Mind  you  keep  still  and  don't 
interrupt  my  lecture." 

1  Charles  de  Re'musat,  op.  cit.,  p.  31. 


18  ABELARD 


III 


It  is  not  alone  by  the  outward  success  of  his  scho- 
lastic apostolate  that  Abelard  merits  consideration  as 
the  precursor  of  the  modern  spirit  and  the  promoter 
of  the  foundation  of  the   universities ;  it  is  also  by 
his  doctrine,  or  at  least  by  his  method.     He  may,  in 
fact,  be  counted  among  the  liberators  of  the  human 
mind,    and    even,   according  to    the    expression    of 
Brucker,  "  among  the  martyrs  of  philosophy."  ^    ^^ 
In  what,  then,  consisted  the  novelty  of  his  opin- 
\  ions  ?     Abelard  remains  especially  celebrated,  among 
Ithe  historians  of  philosophy,  for  having  taken  an  in- 
itermediate  and  sound  position  between  the  Realists 
)and  the  Nominalists,  between  William  of  Champeaux 
and  Roscelinus ; '  for  having  maintained  that  general 
ideas  are  neither  independent  entities  nor  mere  words, 
but  must  be  defined  as  concepts  of  the  mind  seizing 
ihe^  real  relations  of  things.     But  whatever   may  be 
the  value  of  this  theory  of  Abelard,  of  this  Concep- 
tualism  which  was  the  doctrine  of  good  sense,  it  is 
not  in  it  that  his  real  originality  appears ;  ^at  con- 
sists, above  all,  in  the  application  he  made  of  reason 
\  to  theology,  in  his  Christian  rationalism,  which  pre- 
(jjared  the  way  for  philosophical  rationalism.     "What 
Abelard  taught  that  was  most  novel  for  his  age,"  says 

1  Brucker,  Historia  critica  philosophise,  t.  iii,  p.  704.  Cousin 
does  not  hesitate  to  say  that  Abelard  was  "  leader  of  a  school  and 
almost  martyr  of  an  opinion." 

*  Roscelinus,  a  philosopher  of  the  eleventh  century,  the  chief  of 
the  Nominalists,  born  in  Brittany,  like  Abelard,  who  had,  it  appears, 
followed  his  lectures:  "  Moffistri  nostri  Roscelini  tarn  insana 
$ententia."    (Ouvrages  in(dlt»,  p.  471.) 


FORERUNNER  OF  THE  UNIVERSITIES  19 

Mme.  Guizot,  "  was  liberty,  the  right  to  consult  rea-  )/ 
son  and  to  listen  to  it  alone.  An  almost  involuntary 
innovator,  he  had  methods  that  were  still  bolder  than 
his  doctrines,  and  principles  whose  range  far  outran 
the  consequences  at  which  he  himself  arrived.  Hence, 
his  influence  is  not  to  be  sought  for  in  the  verities 
which  he  established,  but  in  the  impulse  which  he 
gave.  He  attached  his  name  to  none  of  those  power-  | 
ful  ideas  which  act  throughout  the  centuries,  but  he 
imparted  to  minds  that  impetus  which  perpetuates 
itself  from  generation  to  generation."^  ^l 

Assuredly,  no  one  claims  that  Abelard  was  the  first 
who,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  had  introduced  dialectics  ^^ 
into  theology,  reason  into  authority.      In  the  ninth     ■ 
.century,  Scotus  Erigena  had  already  said:  "Authority 
is  derived  from  reason."    Scholasticism,  which  is  noth-  • 
ing  but  logic  enlightening  theology,  an  effort  of  rea-  i 
son  to  demonstrate  dogma,  had  begun  before  Abelard ;  > 
but  it  was  he  who  gave  movement  and  life  to  the 
method  by  lending  it  his  power  and  his  renown.     It 
was  he  above  all  who  erected  it  into  a  principle  and  | 
gave  i^  general  application.  ^^ 

To  estimate  the  independence  of  Abelard's  thought,  . 
to  comprehend  how  far  he  was  in  advance  of  his  time, 
it  is  sufficient  to  recall  the  opposition  he  encountered 
among  the  representatives  of  tradition.  "  The  human 
mind,"  said  St.  Bernard  in  his  earliest  denunciations 
of  Abelard,  "the  human  mind  usurps  all,  no  longer 
leaving  anything  to  faith.  ...  It  lays  hands  upon 
what  is  most  high ;  it  searches  that  which  is  stronger 

1  Mme.  Guizot,  Essai  sur  la  Vie  et  les  Merits  d'Ahilard  et  de 
Hiloise,  p.  3^. 


20  ABELARD 

than  itself.  It  flings  itself  upon  divine  things ;  it 
forces  rather  than  opens  the  holy  places.  Read,  if 
you  please,  Peter  Abelard's  book  which  he  calls 
theology  y  ^ 

It  is  important  to  observe  that  Abelard  did  not 
enter  upon  the  study  of  theology  until  after  he  had 
devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  philosophy.  When 
he  presented  himself  at  the  school  of  Anselm  at 
Laon,  his  fellows  reproached  with  having  as  yet  been 
initiated  only  into  "the  natural  sciences."  Thus, 
even  in  teaching  theology,  he  remains  the  man  who 
desires  to  comprehend  before  he  believes.  He  does  , 
not  proceed  by  authority.  He  appeals  to  the  freedom  — + 
of  the  mind.  He  imagines,  no  doubt,  with  a  nai've 
confidence,  that  this  efPo?t  to  examine  will  leave  the 

\ traditional  beliefs  intact;  but  he  none  the  less  opens 
the  door  to  all  succeeding  liberties,  to  all  the  heresies 
of  the  future ;  since  he  wills  that  everything  shall  be 
discussed,  everything  explained,  that  there  shall  be 

l^no  more  secrets,  no  more  mysteries. 

Abelard  has  doubted ;  he  has  investigated*  One  of  •■ 
his  books  entitled  the  Sic  et  Non,'  furnishes  thfe  proof 
of  this.  He  there  accumulates  the  arguments  for 
and  against  every  question.  "  I  expose  these  contra- 
dictions," he  says  himself,  "  so  that  they  may  excite 
the  susceptible  minds  of  my  readers  to  the  search  for 
truth,  and  that  they  may  render  their  minds  more 
penetrating  as  the  effect  of  that  search."^    The  reader 

1  This  Is  the  Introductio  ad  theologiam,  composed  about  1121. 
See  Abelardi  Opera,  edition  Cousin,  1849,  t.  ii. 

*  The  Sic  et  Non  has  been  published  by  V.  Cousin  in  the  Ouvrages 
in^dits  d' Abelard. 

^  "  .  .  .  Ut  teneroa  lectores  ad  maximum  inquirendm  veritatis 


FORERUNNER  OF  THE  UNIVERSITIES  21 

was  to  find  the  solution  of  these  controversies  for  him- 
self.    Thus  Abelard  gave  to  the  Christian  mysteries, 
as   has   been   very  justly  remarked,  "  the  form  of  a  V 
problem,  and  to  the  dogmas  the  form  of  a  solution." 

It  was  all  very  well  for  him  to  incline  for  his  own 
part  toward  that  solution  of  every  question  which 
was  most  conformable  to  authority.  It  is  none  the 
less  true  that  the  provisional  orthodoxy  of  his  con- 
clusions, if  it  dissimulated,  did  not  wholly  conceal  the 
freedom  of  his  method ;  that  it  excited  the  curiosity 
of  other  minds ;  that  it  proclaimed  the  sovereignty  of 
dialectics ;  that,  consequently,  it  emancipated  reason 
by  giving  it  confidence  in  its  own  forces ;  that  it  au- 
thorized, in  fine,  by  its  processes  of  argumentation, 
the  free  solutions  which  it  did  not  teach  and  which  it 
dared  not  even  glance  at.  ___^ 

It  is  the  method  of  Abelard  which  is  the  soul  of  j 
the  scholastic  philosophy,  of  that  philosophy  which 
lasted  for  five  centuries,  until  the  Renaissance,  and 
which' -.reigned  supreme  in  the  University  of  Paris,  : 
wKich  -in  early  times  was  merely  a  great  school  of  j 
theology  and  philosophy.     "  That  Abelard's  methodjjjy 
says  Pere  Denifle,  "was  introduced  into  the  schools 
and  never  departed  thence,  can  be  doubted  by  none 
who  will  compare  the  works  which  preceded  Abelard 
with   those   that   succeeded   him,  notably  the  Qucbs- 
tiones,  the  Disputationes,  the  Sutnynce,  composed   by 
the  professors  of  those  times.  .  .  .     We    encounter 
this  method  again  in  the  celebrated  book  which,  dur- 
ing several  centuries  has  been,  as  it  were,  the  text  of 

exercitium  provocarent  et  acutiores  ex  inquisitione  redderent." 
(Sic  et  non,  prologus.) 


22  ,  ABELARD 

theological  instruction,  I  mean  the  Sentences  by  Peter 
Lombard.^  .  .  .  The  influence  of  the  same  method  is 
felt  even  in  the  famous  work  which  has  been  like 
the  code  of  the  schools  of  canon  law,  the  Decretals 
of  Gratian."^ 

It  is,  therefore,  permissible  to  conclude  that  we  are 
not  deceived  in  attributing  to  Abelard  the  first  place   ' 
in  a  study  of  the  origin  of  the  universities  and  the 
'causes   which   gave    them   birth.      Abelard  was   the  j^ 
jreal  founder  of  the  University  of  Paris,  and  by  that  ^- 
^jfact  the  promoter  of  all  the  universities  created  in 
its  image.     He  was  its  founder  in  several  ways :  at 
]  first  through  his  reputation,  by  habituating  foreigners 
to  come  to  Paris  for  the  purpose  of  studying  there, 
and  by  assembling  vast  audiences  around  him ;  after- 
wards by  popularizing  the  studies  and  the  methods 
which  were  held  in  honor  for  centuries  in  the  Parisian 
schools.     He  raised  the  level  of  instruction  by  sub- 
stituting, in  the  place  of  the  old  routine  of  the  trivium  ^ 
and  the  quadrivium,  and  of  purely  elementary  |||^ft^s,  y 
the  lofty  lessons  of  reasoned  theology  and  ^|vct  oJr 
philosophy.    He  was  the  first  professor  of  superior  in- 
struction ;   and  he  did  his  work  with  an  incomparable 
~-^lat.     Among  his   immediate   pupils,  says  Crevier, 


X 


were  twenty  cardinals,  fifty  archbishops  or  bishops, 
and  a  Pope,  Celestin  II ;  and  he  thus  began  to  make 
the  theological  school  of  Paris  the  Seminary  of  Chris- 
tian Europe.  But  he  also  counted  among  his  disci- 
ples bold  and  independent  spirits  :  such  as  Arnold  of 
Brescia,  who  was  an  innovator  both  in  politics  and 
religion,  who  revolutionized  Borne,  and  who  expiated 
1  See  Part  II,  chap.  ii.  *  See  Part  II,  chap.  iii. 


FORERUNNER  OF  THE  UNIVERSITIES  23 

on  the  scaffold,  in  1155,  his  audacity  of  thought 
and  deed.  In  fine,  beyond  the  actual  limits  of  the 
audiences  that  followed  Abelard's  lectures  with  en- 
thusiasm, it  is  permissible  to  say  that,  in  the  fol- 
lowing centuries,  he  has  had  as  disciples  all  those 
who,  in  any  degree  whatever,  have  maintained  the 
rights  of  reason  and  contended  for  the  emancipation 
of  the  human  mind.  One  cannot  awaken  thoughts 
without  unchaining  it ;  and  without  wishing  to  force 
things,  Abelard,  the  first  of  French  philosophers  in 
the  order  of  time,  is,  by  the  intellectual  movement 
which  he  determined,  the  precursor  of  Ramus  and 
of  Descartes,  in  other  words,  of  the  Renaissance  and  j 
the  modern  spirit. 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  GENERAL  CAUSES  OF  THE  RISE  OF  UNIVERSITIES 

F.  Individual  and  general  causes  —  Spontaneity  of  the  growth  of  the 
first  universities — Popes  and  kings  protectors,  not  founders  — 
Exceptions:  University  of  Palancia  (1212),  of  Naples  (1224)  — 
Generally  a  long  local  evolution  precedes  the  university  constitu- 
tion —  Specialization  of  studies  in  the  beginning  —  Progressive  ex- 
tension —  Mutual  exchanges  —  II.  Original  meaning  of  the  terms 
universitas,  studium  generate  —  A  university  is  originally  an 
association  of  students  and  teachers  —  General  association  move- 
ment—  The  Commons  —  The  Crusades  —  The  trade-guilds  —  III. 
Equal  patronage  of  the  ecclesiastical  and  civil  powers  —  Univer- 
sities considered  as  an  instrument  for  the  propagation  of  the  faith 
—  Various  citations  from  pontifical  bulls  —  Universities  specially 
constituted  against  heresy  —  IV.  Reasons  for  the  royal  or  imperial 
favor  —  Interested  motives  —  Preparation  of  legists  and  coun- 
sellors for  the  kings  —  Universities  not  only  centres  of  studies, 
but  also  of  political  action. 

However  important  the  role  of  Abelard  may  have 
been,  I  have  no  thought  of  attributing  to  a  single 
man,  or  an  individual  influence,  an  academic  revolu- 
tion so  considerable  as  that  of  the  foundation  of  the 
"universities  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The  most  brilliant 
personality  can  do  nothing  if  the  society  in  which  it 
finds  itself  is  not  propitious,  if  circumstances  do  not 
second  its  action. 

Abelard,  moreover,  is  not  the  only  individual  whose 
name  should  be  inscribed  on  the  first  page  of  the 
Golden  Book  of  the  founders  of  the  universities ;  thus 
24 


CAUSES  OF  THE   RISE  OF  UNIVERSITIES        25 

he  counts  for  nothing^  in  the  constitution  of  the  great 
Italian  school,  the  University  of  Bologna,  the  first  in 
date  of  all  the  universities,  since  its  existence  was 
officially  recognized  in  1158.  The  Bolognese  legist 
Irnerius^  (1067-1138  or  1150)  merits,  for  his  personal 
action,  a  place,  if  not  equal,  at  least  analogous  to  that 
assigned  to  Abelard.* 

After  bringing  into  prominence  the  part  played  by 
the  French  philosopher,  and  saluting  him  as  the  chief 
individual  cause  of  the  birth  of  the  universities,  it  is 
important  to  mention  the  general  causes  whose  concur- 
rence explains  the  origin  and  the  development  of  those 
great  and  powerful  scientific  associations. 


It  is  necessary,  in  the  first  place,  to  discard  the 
prejudice  that  the  first  universities   of  the   Middle 
Ages  were  born  suddenly,  in  a  day,  at  a  precise  mo- 
ment whose  date  it  would  be  possible  to  fix  exactly. 
Doubtless  the  letters-patent  of  kings,   the   bulls   of 
popes,  which  have  for  the  most  part  been  their  con- 
stitutive charters,  have  each  their  date.    But  these  acts 
of  formal  consecration,  coming  from  the  royal  or  the  t'  >, 
pontifical  authority,  contemplated  almost  always  an\ 
accomplished  fact ;  they  simply  sanctioned  an  institu-   \ 
tion  which  had  formed  itself,  and  whose  slow  elabora- 
tion had  been  prepared  by  the  spontaneous  efforts  of    | 
several  generations.     This  is  so  true  that,  even  for  ^ 

1  It  is  established,  nevertheless,  that  even  at  Bologna  the  works 
of  Abelard  were  read,  studied,  and  imitated  in  the  time  of  Gratian. 
»  See  Part  III,  chap.  iii. 


26  ABELARD 

the  universities  whose  histories  are  best  known,  —  for 
the  University  of  Paris,  for  example,  —  it  is  impos- 
sible to  say  exactly  at  what  epoch  they  commenced.^ 
The  privilege  conferred  by  Philip  Augustus  in  1200  on 
Parisian  students  and  instructors ;  the  regulation  of 
the  Cardinal  Legate,  Eobert  de  Courgon,  in  1215 ;  the 
pontifical  charter  of  Gregory  IX,  in  1231,  —  all  these 
documents  presuppose  the  previous  existence,  the 
already  constituted  force,  of  the  Parisian  schools  of 
which  they  undertake  to  regulate  the  organization  in 
detail. 

In  a  word,  the  popes,  like  the  kings,  if  they  were 
the  patrons,  the  protectors  of  the  first  universities, 
were  not  their  founders.  The  universities  sprang  from 
a  spontaneous  movement  of  the  human  mind.*  By 
the  very  force  of  things,  with  the  aid  of  time,  and 
thanks  to  favorable  social  conditions,  they  were  the 
natural  result  of  one  of  those  intellectual  movements 
which,  like  the  Renaissance  of  the  sixteenth  century 
or  the  Revolution  of  1789,  after  ages  of  torpor,  gain 
force  enough  to  dominate  the  human  mind.  They 
originated  from  one  of  those  fortunate  crises  of 
growth  which  are  met  with,  from  time  to  time,  in 
the  life  of  humanity,  as  in  that  of  individuals,  during 
_their  adolescence.     "The  University  of  Paris,"  says 

1  "What  we  know  the  least  about  in  all  our  history,"  said  Pro- 
fessor M.  Croiset  of  tlie  University  of  Montpellier,  at  the  centenary 
fetes  of  1889,  "  is  the  precise  moment  when  it  began.  Universities 
do  not  come  into  the  world  with  a  clatter." 

2  Compiire  Savigny,  GeschicJitc  des  romischen  Rechts,  chap,  xxx, 
sect.  60 :  "  It  would  be  altogether  erroneous  to  compare  the  earliest 
universities  of  the  Middle  Ages  with  the  learned  foundations  of  our 
own  times,  established  by  a  monarch,"  etc. 


CAUSES  OF  THE   RISE  OF  UNIVERSITIES        27 

— 1 
Thurot,  "was   born   of  the   need   of   companionsliip  ; 

which   men  who   cultivate   their   intelligence  feel.'^^  ■ 
With  still  more   precision  Mr.  Laurie  has  written: 
"  The   universities   were   founded   by  a   concurrence")  </ 
(not  wholly  fortuitous)  of  able  men  who  had  some-  C*^" 
thing  they  wished  to  teach  and  youths  who  desired  -^ 
to  learn."  ^ 

Doubtless,    when   once   the    first   universities   had 
found  their  definitive  form,  it  was  easy  for   popes  I 
and  kings  to  decree,  at  a  given  date,  the  creation  of  I 
a  new  establishment.     The  model  once  fashioned,  it  | 
became  easy  to  imitate  it.     Thus  it  is  that  numbers 
of  universities,  founded   in   the   fourteenth   and   fif- 
teenth centuries,  are  merely  faithful  copies   of  the 
University  of  Paris  or  that  of  Bologna.     But  at  thej 
beginning,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  we  see  hardly 
more  than  two  universities  which  form  an  exception 
to  the  general  rule^f  a  more  or  less  long  preparation, 

an4 which   sprang  instantaneously  from   an   act  of 

sovereign  will:  that  of  Palencia,  in  Spain,  created 
by  Alfonso  VIII  of  Castile  in  1212-1214;  and  that 
of  Naples,  constituted  in  1224  by  Frederic  II.  It  is 
to  be  remarked,  besides,  that  these  universities,  by  the 
very  reason  of  their  factitious  origin,  were  scarcely 
prosperous.  That  of  Palencia,  notably,  had  only  a 
precarious  and  ephemeral  existence.^  And  it  is  per- 
missible to  conclude  that  the  majority  of  the  univer- 

1  Thurot,  I)e  Vorf/anisation  de  I'enseic/nement  dans  I' University 
de  Paris.    Paris,  1850,  p.  3. 

2  Laurie,  Lectures  on  the  Rise  and  Early  Constitution  of  Uni- 
versities.   I^ildon,  1886,  p.  108. 

*  Vii'ente  im  la  Fucnte,  Historia  de  las  Universidades  en  Espaiia. 
Madrid,  1884,  t.  i,  p.  76. 


28  ABELARD 

sities,  even  the  smallest  provincial  ones,  such  as  those 
of  Orleans  and  Angers  in  France,  have  been  the  pro- 
duct of  a  long  local  evolution,  and  thrust  their  roots 
deep  into  a  long  past  of  labor  and  intellectual  culture. 

It  is  only  in  modern  times  that  flourishing  universi- 
ties may  be  seen  springing  out  of  the  earth  between 
one  day  and  the  next,  created,  so  to  say,  by  the  stroke 
of  a  magic  wand.  To  make  such  improvisations  pos- 
sible, two  things  are  needful  which  were  alike  un- 
known to  the  Middle  Ages :  either  a  governmental 
centralization  sufficiently  strong  to  be  able  to  install 
at  once,  in  any  given  city,  a  corps  of  professors,  with 
the  necessary  appliances ;  or  such  individual  munifi- 
cence as  has  been  witnessed  in  the  United  States 
many  times  during  this  century  in  the  case  of  such 
men  as  George  Peabody,  Ezra  Cornell,  and  Johns 
Hopkins,  —  to  cite  only  these,  —  munificence  great 
enough  to  establish  complete  universities  in  a  few 
years,  equipped  with  all  their  instruments. 

Things  went  otherwise  in  the  Middle  Ages.  As 
has  been  very  justly  remarked  by  an  annalist  of  the 
universities  of  Sicily :  "  A  doctor  of  some  reputation 
drew  around  him  a  group  of  disciples  eager  to  be  in- 
structed. Their  numbers  gradually  increased ;  other 
doctors,  finding  an  audience  all  ready,  set  up  their 
chairs  near  his ;  and  thus  was  founded  a  school  which 
went  by  the  name  of  Studimn,  but  which  did  not 
at  first  embrace  the  entire  body  of  human  learn- 
ing. The  University  of  Paris  began  with  schools  of 
theology  and  philosophy.  The  school  of  Salerno,  the 
I  most  ancient  in  all  Italy,  was  never  anything  but 
a  medical  school.     The  University  of  Bologna,  which 


CAUSES  OF  THE   RISE   OF  UNIVERSITIES        29 

was  SO  greatly  renowned,  which  had  eighty  professor- 
ships, and  whither  flocked  as  many  as  twelve  thou- 
sand students  from  all  countries,  was  at  first  only 
a  school  of  Roman  law.  So,  too,  the  University  of 
Padua  comprised  at  the  beginning  only  its  chairs  of 

law."  ^  

It  is  impossible,  in  fact,  to  avoid  the  conclusion 
that  the  universities,  when  they  began,  did  not  in  the 
least  resemble  complete  bodies  of  instruction.  They 
began  by  specialization.  "Four  cities,"  wrote  St. 
Thomas  Aquinas  toward  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  "  surpass  all  others,  Parisius  in  scientiis,  Sa- 
lernum  in  medicinis,  Bononia  in  legibiis,  Aurelianis 
(Orleans)  in  actoribus  "  (pleaders).  It  was  in  nowise 
necessary  that  a  school,  a  studium  genercUe,  desiring 
to  call  itself  a  university,  should  be  provided  with 
the  four  faculties :  arts,  theology,  law,  and  medicine. 
The  University  of  Paris  was  itself  incomplete,  since 
civil  law  was  not  taught  there.  It  was  only  1360 
that  Pope  Innocent  VI  created  a  school  of  theology 
at  Bologna.  Orleans  was  never  more  than  a  univer- 
sity of  law,  to  use  the  expression  then  in  vogue.* 
The  University  of  Avignon  was  opened  in  1227  by  the 
establishment  of  a  theological  instruction  destined  to 
combat  heresy.^  On  the  other  hand,  a  great  number 
of  universities  either  never  had  professors  of  the- 
ology, or  did  not  have  them  at  first.     "Neither  at 

1  Aub^,  J^tude  sur  Vinstruction  publique  en  Sicile.  Paris,  1872, 
p.  4. 

2  Etienne  Pasqnier,  Recherches  de  la  France,  t.  i,  p.  989. 

8  Marcel  Fournier,  Les  statuts  et  privileges  des  Universit^s  /ran- 
Raises.    Paris,  1891,  t.  ii,  p.  301. 


V 


30  ABELARD 

Salamanca  nor  Coimbra,  neither  at  Valladolid  nor  at 
Lerida,  up  to  the  fifteenth  century,"  says  a  historian 
of  the  Spanish  universities,  "  was  there  any  theologi- 
cal instruction  except  a  few  chairs  of  canon  law.  It 
is  a  mistake  to  imagine  that  the  point  of  departure  for 
the  universities  was  the  idea  of  studying  ecclesiasti- 
cal science."  ^ 

At  Paris  dialectics  and  theology  were  emphasized, 
by  reason  of  the  movement  started  by  Abelard ;  the 
study  of  civil  law  took  the  lead  in  the  majority  of 
the  Italian  universities,  through  a  natural  affinity 
with  Eome,  and  thanks  to  the  most  carefully  pre- 
served traditions  of  Roman  law;  elsewhere,  as  in 
the  universities  of  Spain,  for  example,  under  the 
more  direct  influence  exerted  in  that  country  by 
Arabian  physicians,  the  medical  sciences  came  first ; 
everywhere,  in  fine,  for  local  reasons  and  particular 
circumstances,  a  special  instruction  is  first  developed, 
jit  stimulates  intellectual  effort  in  a  limited  field; 
then,  little  by  little,  the  circle  is  enlarged ;  the 
awakened  human  mind  stretches  itself  in  all  direc- 
tions; studies  of  another  order  are  grafted  on  the 
primitive  stem,  and   new  schools   are   seen  to  open 

V beside  the  first. 

r'At  the  same  time  exchanges  are  made,  and,  as  it 

UKere,  colonizations  from  city  to  city.  Legists  from 
Bologna  introduced  the  study  of  law  into  the  French 
universities,  as,  for  example,  at  Montpellior.  Parisian 
theologians  carried  their  science  and  their  methods 

jto  Oxford.     And,  thanks  to  these  reciprocal  relations, 

the  universities,  insensibly  aggregating  the  different 

1  Vicente  de  la  Fuente,.o/).  cit.,  t.  i,  p.  227. 


CAUSES  OF  THE   RISE   OF  UNIVERSITIES        31 

kinds  of  studies  then  known,  were  for  the  most  part 

able  to  constitute  themselves  with   their  new  quad- 

rivium:  theology,  law,  medicine,  and  arts.    ^  ^ ^, 

r 

II 

One  mistake  must  be  avoided.  "  Universi^,"  at 
the  outset,  is  not  a  synonym  of  the  universi^  of 
science,  but  simply  of  the  university  of  persons,  I 
teachers,  and  students,  doctores  et  docendi,  who  com- 1 
pose  a  group,  an  association  of  studies.  The  proofj 
of  this  is  that,  in  all  the  acts  relating  to  the  Univer- 
sity of  Paris  in  the  thirteenth  century,  the  word 
universitas  is  always  followed  by  the  genitives  magis- 
trorum  et  scholarmm.  In  the  letter  by  which  Pope 
Innocent  III  in  1205,  invited  the  professors  of  Paris 
to  send  some  of  their  number  to  Constantinople  to 
reform  the  studies  there,  these  are  the  opening  words : 
"  Universis  magistHs  et  scliolarihus  Parisiensibus,  to  all 
the  masters  and  scholars  of  Paris."  And  a  few  lines 
further  on,  the  pope  addresses  the  university  in  these 
terms :  Universitatem  vestram  rogamus}  In  the  stat- 
utes given  to  the  Medical  Faculty  of  Montpellier,  in 
1220,  by  Cardinal  Conrad,  Legate  of  the  Holy  See, 
the  author  asks  the  opinion  of  the  "  University  of  the 
physicians  of  Montpellier,  tarn  dodorum  quam  disci- 
pxdorum."  ^  But  what  use  is  it  to  multiply  testimony  ? 
It  is  unnecessary  to  recall  that  Orleans  was  never 
anything  but  a  "  University  of  law" ;  that  at  Bologna, 
in  one  and  the  same  city,  two  universities  were  recog- 

1  Chartularium  Universitatis  Parisie7isis.     Paris,  1889,  t.  i,  pp. 
62,  63.  a  M.  Fournier,  op.  cit.,  t.  ii,  p.  4. 


82  ABELARD 

nized,  that  of  law  and  that  of  arts.     The   question 

Enot  a  doubtful  one.      Universities,  in  its  primitive 
ise,  merely  signifies  "association,"  "corporation." 
"  In  the  language  of  the  civil  law,"  observes  Maiden, 
"all  corporations  were  called  universitates,  as  forming 
one  whole  out  of  many  individuals.     In  the  German 
jurisconsults  universitas  is  the  word  for  a  corporate 
1  town.     In  Italy,  it  was  applied  to  the  incorporated 
i  trades  in  the  cities.     In  ecclesiastical  language  the' 
I  term  was  sometimes  applied  to  a  number  of  churches 
I  united  under  the  superintendence  of  one  archdeacon. 
I  In  a  papal  rescript  of  the  year  688  it  is  used  of  the 
'  body  of  the  canons  of  the  church  of  Pisa."^ 

No  use  can  be  made,  as  against  the  definition  I 
have  given  of  the  word  "  university,"  of  the  ambiguity 
which  might  be  created  by  the  expression  "  studium 
generate,"  constantly  used,  from  the  second  half  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  to  designate  a  centre  of  studies.^ 
Nor  does  studium  generate  mean  a  school  embracing 
the  complete  circle  of  sciences.  Bologna,  when  it 
was  still  merely  a  school  of  law,  Orleans,  which 
has  never  been  anything  else,  were  studia  generalia 
^,  as  truly  as  the  most  complete  universities.  The 
epithet  generate  was  not  applied  in  view  of  the  extent 
or  nature  of  the  instruction,  but  simply  of  the  fact 
that  the  lectures  were  public,  open  to  everybody,  ac- 
cessible to  students  of  all  countries  and  all  conditions. 
"The  universities,"  says  Laurie,   "were  open  to  all 

1  Professor  Maiden,  Origin  of  Universities,  p.  13. 

2  Studium  yenerale  should  be  understood  as  congregatio  gene- 
ralis,  the  general  assembly  of  all  the  members  of  the  university. 
Savigny  is  wrong  in  suggesting  that  the  adjective  generate  relates 
to  the  privilege  docendi  hie  et  ubique. 


CAUSES  OF  THE   RISE   OF  UNIVERSITIES        33 

without  restriction  as  studia  publica  or  generalia,  as 
opposed  to  the  more  restricted  ecclesiastical  schools 
which  were  under  a  Rule" *  ^ 

The  universities  then,  at  their  origin,  were  merelyl  j 
academic  associations,  analogous,  as  societies  of  mutual  ' 
guaranty,  to  the  corporations  of  workingmen,  the  com- 
mercial leagues,  the  trade-guilds  which  were  playing 
so  great  a  part  at  the  same  epoch;  analogous  also, 
by  the  privileges  granted  to  them,  to  the  municipal 
associations  and  political  communities  which  date 
from  the  same  time.  I  It  was  from  the  second  hal^ 
of  the  eleventh  century  that  the  Lombard  and  Tus- 
can cities  rose  against  their  sovereign  bishops  and 
formed  themselves  into  a  veritable  republic,  leagued 
among  themselves,  but  independent  and  self-governing. 
If  Italy,  among  all  European  countries,  has  been  the 
one  that  saw  the  birth  of  the  most  universities  in  the 
thirteenth  century,  she  certainly  owes  this  to  special 
social  conditions,  to  the  republican  constitution  of  the 
majority  of  her  cities.^  In  the  same  way,  it  is  during 
the  twelfth  century  that  the  spirit  of  political  liberty 
began  to  develop  itself  in  France  and  the  emancipa- 
tion of  the  communes  was  accomplished. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Crusades,  while  binding 
closer  the  ties  and  solidifying  the  relations  between 
the  peoples  of  Western  Europe,  excited  the  imagina- 
tion,  brought  the   Occident  into    contact  with   the 
Orient,  with  the  civilization  and  science  of  the  Arabs. 

1  Laurie,  op.  cit.,  p.  101. 

2  Of  the  fifteen  cities  of  Northern  Italy  which  in  1226  founded 
the  Second  Lombard  League,  five  had  universities  from  the  thir- 
teenth century:  Bologna.  Vicenza,  Padua,  Vercelli,  Plaisance. 


S4  •  ABELARD 

They  inspired  an  inclination  for  adventure  and  travel, 
and,  in  fine,  uniting  men  of  all  ranks  and  countries 
by  the  impulse  of  a  common  enthusiasm,  they  opened 
the  way  to  associations  of  another  sort,  founded,  not 
jfor  the  deliverance  of  the  Holy  Land,  but  for  the 
iquest  of  knowledge. 
It  is  beyond  doubt  that  the  university  associations 
modelled  themselves  upon  the  much  older  associations 
which  sprang  from  the  necessity  of  protecting  com- 
mercial and  industrial  interests ;  either  those  which, 
in  the  interior  of  a  city,  grouped  workmen  of  the  same 
trade ;  ^  or  those  which,  like  the  Hanse  of  Hamburg 
and  of  Lubeck   (1241),  united  a  certain  number  of 
industrial  towns  for  the  development  of  foreign  com- 
merce ;  or,  finally,  those  travelling  corporations  which, 
square  and  trowel  in  hand,  went  from  province  to 
province,  from  city  to  city,  to  build  their  cathedrals.^ 
-^     Established  for  an  entirely  different  purpose,  that 
of  preserving  and  increasing  the  deposit  of  learning, 
the  universities  had,  none  the  less,  their  own  interests 
to  defend,  and  a  multitude  of  individuals  to  protect ; 
I  and  it  is  natural  that,  following  the  example,  either 
I  of  the  merchants  corporately  leagued,  or  of  the  com- 
munes  emancipated  by  royal  charters,  they  should 
[have   sought  to   strengthen  themselves,   at   first   by 
[solidarity,  by  the   mutual  assistance  of  all  persons 

1  It  was  under  the  same  king,  Philip  Augustus,  that  the  Univer- 
sity of  Paris  began  to  take  form,  and  that  the  Parisian  Hanse,  or 
association  of  the  water-sellers  of  Paris,  was  constituted. 

2  See,  concerning  tliis  interesting  question  of  the  points  of  agree- 
ment between  the  trade-guilds  and  the  universities,  M.  Bimbenct's 
work,  Hisloire  de  V  University  de  Lois  d'OrUans.  Paris,  1853,  p.  59 
et  seq. 


CAUSES  OF  THE  RISE   OP  UNIVERSITIES        35 


composing  them ;  and  afterwards  by  the  participation 
of  all  their   members  in  the   same   franchises  and, 
privileges. 

"  I  explain  to  myself,"  says  a  French  writer,  "  how 
a  single  city  could  in  the  Middle  Ages  bring  together 
bodies  of  students  belonging  to  different  provinces 
and  different  countries,  by  the  analogy  which  this 
agglomeration  of  students  bears  to  the  agglomerations 
of  traders  of  different  nations  in  certain  cities  on  the 
seacoast,  where  they  have  their  separate  banks,  and 
even  their  separate  markets."  ^ 


III 

I  have  described  what  there  was  of  spontaneity^ 
in  the  growth  of  the  universities.  But  it  is  none  the 
less  true  that  these  studious  tendencies,  these  efforts 
at  association,  would  very  probably  have  resulted  in 
nothing  if  they  had  not  obtained  the  co-operation 
and  favor  both  of  the  ecclesiastical  and  civil  powers.  _ 
I  shall  in  the  first  place  show  this  in  relation  to  the 
Church  and  the  popes.  j 

It  is  incontestable  that  the  protection,  the  kindly  I 
aid,  of  the  papacy  was  gained  from  the  very  begin- 

1  Bouthors,  Coutumes  de  Picardie,  cited  by  Bimbenet,  op.  cit., 
p.  73.  Bimbenet  reproduces  several  articles  from  the  statutes  of 
the  guilds,  the  provisions  of  which  are  identical  with  those  con- 
tained in  the  statutes  of  the  universities;  this,  for  example:  "If 
one  of  the  associates  fall  sick,  the  brethren  shall  visit  him;  if  he 
happen  to  die,  four  brethren,  nominated  by  the  ancient  (the  dean) 
shall  watch  by  the  dead  man,  and  bury  his  body;  and  all  the  asso- 
ciates shall  accompany  him.  .  .  ." 


36  ABELARD 

/nings  of  the  universities.^  One  after  another,  the 
j  popes  granted,  with  the  most  cordial  alacrity,  the  bulls 
1  if  erection  or  the  confirmations  of  privileges  solicited 
f    %•  the  kings  and  emperors. 

The  Church  of  the  thirteenth  century  was  no  longer 
minded,  as  a  Council  of  Carthage  had  been,  to  pro- 
scribe the  study  of  letters.  Without  claiming  that 
the  court  of  Rome  had  become  a  centre  of  liberal 
ideas,  some  progress  had  been  accomplished.  The 
days  had  gone  by  when  a  pope,  Sylvester  II  (999- 
1003),  was  accused  by  his  contemporaries  of  having 
transactions  with  the  devil,  because  he  had  acquired, 
chiefly  in  the  Arabian  schools  of  Spain,  a  certain 
modicum  of  science;  so  that  after  his  death  it  was 
said:  Homagium  diabolo  fecit  et  male Jinivit.  Toward 
the  close  of  the  twelfth  century,  the  chair  of  St. 
Peter  was  occupied  by  such  a  man  as  Alexander  III 
(1159-1181),  who  deserved  to  be  called  the  propiig- 
nator  of  Italian  liberties,  for  his  support  of  the 
league  of  the  Lombard  cities  against  the  emperor  of 
Germany;  at  the  commencement  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  by  Innocent  III  (1198-1216),  who  needed 
nothing  to  interest  him  in  the  beginnings  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Paris  but  the  recollection  that  he  had 
himself  been  one  of  its  students;'*  by  Honorius  III 
(1216-1227),  who  deposed  a  bishop  for  not  having 

/  1  From  1200  to  1250  the  chartularium  of  the  single  University  of 
Paris  contains  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  pontifical  letters, 
granting  privileges,  regulating  studies,  etc. 

2  Not  only  Innocent  III,  hut  Honorius  III,  Gregory  IX  (1227- 
1241),  and  still  other  popes  must  be  reckoned  among  the  students 
of  the  University  of  Paris.  See  Budinsky's  work,  Die  Universitdt 
Paris,  Berlin,  1876,  p.  189  et  seq. 


CAUSES   OF  THE  RISE  OF  UNIVERSITIES        37 

read  Donatus,  that  is  to  say,  for  not  having  studied 
grammar.^ 

Moreover,  the  Church  had  as  yet  no  reason  to  sus- 
pect an  intellectual   progress  whose  representatives 
seemed  to  have  no  other  object  than  that  of  studying 
the  faith,  and  of  submitting  themselves  intelligently 
to  dogmas  henceforward  explained  and  demonstrated 
by  a  compliant  dialectic.     The  philosophy  of  that  age 
was  generally  humble  and  modest  —  Abelard  having 
been  scarcely  more  than  an  exception — and  it  did 
not  complain  of  being  called  the  handmaid  of  the- 
ology  {ancilla  theologice).     Doubtless  the  new  estab- 
lishments,  thanks  to  the  immunities  and  privileges 
whose  possession  was  assured  to  them  by  the  popes 
themselves,  were  more  than  once  destined  to  be  the 
antagonists   of    the   papacy.      But   who   could  then, 
divine,  in  the  obscure  beginnings,  the  eclat  and  the 
ambitions   of  the   future  ?     Doubtless   the   universi^ 
ties,  by  the  intellectual  travail  they  were  to  excite, 
bore  the  germs  of  the  approaching  liberty  of  thought,  ' 
the  Reformation  and  free  philosophy.     But  who  could  1 
then  suspect  that  the  human  mind,  encouraged  in  its  1 
efforts  by  the  Church,  would  one  day  turn  against  the  1 
Church,  that  reason  would  not  always  be  in  accord 
with   faith,  that   science   could   be   something  other 
than  the  confirmation  of  the  traditional  beliefs  ? ^ 

In  generously  according  their  patronage  to  the  uni- 
versities, in  favoring  the  development  and  diffusion 
of  human  learning,  the  popes  certainly  believed  that 
they  were  laboring  only  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the 
good  of  the  Church.  This  conviction  is  shown  inj 
I  See  Part  III,  chap.  1. 


38  ABELARD 

the  almost  identical  terms  by  whicli  the  different 
pontifical  bulls  urge  the  importance  of  letters  and  the 
sciences.     A  few  extracts  will  suffice  to  prove  this. 

In  1229,  Gregory  IX  wrote  to  the  king  of  France, 
Louis  IX,  to  recommend  to  him  the  University  of 
Paris,  then  disturbed  by  a  students'  riot.  He  reminds 
him  that  "  wisdom  is  necessary,  and  that  wisdom  is 
nourished  by  the  study  of  letters."  ^  Now,  what  is 
wisdom,  to  a  pope,  except  the  Christian  faith  ?  In 
1231,  in  the  emphatic  language  of  the  time,  the  same 
pope  writes  to  the  Parisian  professors  and  students  :  ^ 
"  Paris,  mother  of  sciences,  city  of  letters,  .  .  .  where, 
as  in  a  special  factory  of  wisdom  (in  offidna  sapientice 
speciali),  .  .  .  skilful  men  ornament  and  decorate  the 
precious  stones  of  the  spouse  of  Christ.  .  .  ." 

The  same  language  occurs  in  the  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  centuries.  In  1331,  in  the  bull  of  the  foun- 
dation of  the  University  of  Cahors,  John  XXII  ex- 
presses himself  thus :  "  After  having  considered  how 
precious  is  the  gift  of  wisdom  and  knowledge,  and 
how  desirable  it  is  to  possess  them,  since  by  them  the 
shadows  of  ignorance  are  dissipated  (ignorantice  tene- 
brce  profagantur)  and  the  obscurities  of  error  dis- 
pelled, because  they  permit  the  curious  intelligence 
of  mortals  to  order  and  dispose  their  acts  in  the  light 
of  truth;  ...  we  desire  ardently  and  with  all  our 
heart  that  the  study  of  letters  should  everywhere 
flourish  and  be  increasingly  developed."  ^ 
I  In  1422,  when  he  erected  the  little  University  of 

1  Chartularium  itniversitatis  Parisiensis,  t.  i,  p.  128. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  137. 

*  Baudel,  Hiatoire  de  I'UniversiU  de  Cahors,  187G,  p.  10. 


CAUSES   OF  THE  RISE   OF  UNIVERSITIES        39 

Dole,  in  Burgundy,  Martin  V  declared  that  "  by  the 
study  of  letters  the  worship  of  divine  things  increases 
{divinorum  cultus  augetur)  and  the  Catholic  faith  is 
fortified."  ^  "*" 

In  1431,  at  the  time  of  the  foundation  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Poitiers,  Eugene  IV  proclaimed  in  his  / 
turn  how  well  the  study  of  letters,  by  dissipating  the 
darkness  of  ignorance,  comports  with  the  public  and 
private  advantage,  both  temporal  and  spiritual,  of  the 
entire  world.  "Thanks  to  them,  the  worship  of  God 
is  increased  {Dei  cultus  augetur)  ;  they  prepare  the 
salvation  of  souls."  ^ 

In  1450,  Nicholas  V,  in  granting  to  the  University 
of  Barcelona  the  privileges  of  the  University  of  Tou- 
louse, considered  that,  thanks  to  the  new  studiuvi 
generate,  "the  Catholic  faith  would  be  extended  in 
that  region  {ibidem  fides  CathoUca  dilatetur)^^ 

It  would  be  superfluous  to  multiply  citations.  Al- 
ways and  everywhere  recur  the  same  expressions,  the 
same  eulogies  for  "the  pearl  of  science,"  the  same 
homage  to  the  universities  considered  as  instruments 
for  the  propagation  of  faith  and  piety.  It  is  not  the  • 
only  time  in  the  history  of  humanity  that  an  estab- 
lished power  has  been  seen  to  prepare  the  way  for 
its  own  decadence  by  protecting  institutions  which 
afterwards  rise  against  it,  and  little  by  little  promote 
its  ruin.  Are  we  not  in  our  own  day  witnessing  an 
analogous  spectacle,  when  in  every  land  we  see  the 

1  Beaune  and  d'Arbantnont,  Les  UniversiUs  de  la  Franche 
Comte,  1870:  Pieces  justijicatives,  p.  3. 

2  PriviUyes  de  I'  Universite  de  Poitiers,  1726,  p.  1. 
8  Vicente  de  la  Fuente,  op.  cit.,  t.  i,  p.  336. 


46  ABELARD 

ruling  classes  rivalling  each  other  in  their  ardor  to 
multiply  public  schools,  and  thus  making  ready  for 

V^  the  advent  of  a  new  order  of  things,  of  a  levelling 
of  society,  the  result  of  which,  when  accomplished, 
will  be  to  dispossess  the  ruling  classes  of  their 
privileges  ? 

If  a  decisive  proof  is  wanted  of  the  part  which 
the  popes  expected  the  universities  to  play,  it  will  be 
sufficient  to  examine  in  what  circumstances  and  for 
what  end  one  of  the  most  important  provincial  uni- 
versities of  France,  that  of  Toulouse,  was  created  in 
the  opening  years  of  the  thirteenth  century.  The 
Holy  See  was  at  that  time  occupied  with  the  ques- 
tion of  re-establishing  the  Catholic  faith  in  a  region 
disturbed  by  heresy  and  the  Albigensian  war.  The 
creation  of  the  Dominican  order  (1215)  and  the  foun- 
dation of  the  University  of  Toulouse  were  due  to  the 
same  purpose.  In  1217,  in  fact,  Honorius  III  wrote 
to  the  professors  of  Paris  to  invite  them  to  go  and 
teach  at  Toulouse,  "  in  that  country,"  said  he,  "  whose 
inhabitants  wish  to  return  to  God  j  where  it  is  neces- 
sary to  prevent  venomous  serpents  from  entering,  and 
where  it  would  be  fitting  to  transplant  certain  men, 
who,  by  their  lectures,  their  preaching,  and  their 
exhortations,  would  ardently  uphold  the  cause  of 
God."^  And  in  1233,  when  he  confirmed  the  erec- 
tion of  the  new  university,  instituted  by  his  legate 

•      in  1229,  Gregory  IX  expressed  the   hope  that  "the 
Catholic  faith,  which  seemed  to  be  completely  ruined 
in  these  regions,  might  again  flourish  there,  if  a  school 
of  letters  (studium  litterarum)  were  established."  * 
I M.  Fournier,  op.  cit.,  t.  i,  p.  437.  ^  Jbid.,  t.  i,  p.  441. 


CAUSES  OF  THE   RISE   OF  UNIVERSITIES        41 

The  University  of  Toulouse  then,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  popes,  was  to  be  a  bulwark  established  against 
the  inroads  and  progress  of  heresy,  a  sort  of  fortress 
constructed  in  a  hostile  country,  wherein  to  shelter 
and  protect  the  orthodox  faithful.  And  this  idea 
of  seeking  a  point  of  vantage  in  the  universities,  a 
counteraction  to  the  heretical  propaganda,  shows  itself 
again,  and  more  forcibly,  when,  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, the  popes,  in  order  to  combat  the  Reformation, 
authorize  the  foundation  of  Jesuit  universities,  that 
of  P©nt  a  Mousson,  fer  example.^ 


IV 

By  what  idea  were  the  emperors  of  Germany,  the 
kings  of  France,  and  the  other  princes  of  the  Middle 
Ages  moved,  when  they  united  with  the  popes  to  assist   j 
the   rising  universities  by  their  favor?     Assuredly^ 
it  was  not  so  much  a  disinterested  affection  for  the 
study  of  science  as  it  was  a  political  forecast.     In| 
the  first  place  they  proposed  to  embellish  and  enrich 
their    dominions    by    endowing    them    with    public 
schools   whose   reputation,    once    established,    might 
attract  thither  many  foreigners,  a  source  of   glory, 
and  of  riches  as  well.     But  they  thought  afterwards 
—  and  the  event  more  than  once  proved  them  to  have 
been  in  the  right  ^  —  that  the  universities  which  they 

1  See  chap.  iii. 

2  In  1688,  Louis  XIV  wrote  to  the  professors  of  the  University  of 
Poitiers:  "Having  seen  the  zeal  and  affection  you  have,  both  for 
our  person  and  for  the  conservation  of  our  right  and  those  of  our 
States  — ."  .  .  .  More  than  once  the  universities  took  sides  for  the 
King  of  France  against  the  claims  of  the  court  of  Rome. 


42  ABELARD 

called  "their  very  dear  daughters,"  would  become, 
thanks  to  the  independence  they  enjoyed,  centres  of 
influence  and  political  action,  and  a  solid  support  of 
the  royal  power.  <J-The  universities,"  says  M,  Liard, 
"are  not  merely  the  homes  of  science.  They  are  also 
schools  of  public  spirit.     In  all  time^  politicians  have 

^Sgarded  them  as  such."*j  Finally,  the  heads  of  the 
State  hoped  that,  recognizing  the  favors  with  which 
they  overwhelmed  them,  the  universities  would  form 
faithful  subjects  for  the  crown,  just  as  the  popes 
expected  that  they  would  give  good  Christians  to 
the  Church ;  that  they  would  be  schools  of  political 
loyalty,  as,  on  the  other  side,  they  were  to  be  schools 
oi,  religious  faith. 

When  Frederick  Barbarossa  instituted  the  Uni- 
versity of  Bologna,  by  his  decree  of  1158,  he  justified 
the  protection  he  promised  to  masters  and  disciples 
by  saying  that  "their  science  illuminated  the  entire 
world,  and  that,  thanks  to  it,  subjects  learned  how 
to  live  in  obedience  to  God,  and  to  the  emperors, 
who  are  the  ministers  of  God."  * 

When  he  confirmed,  in  1367,  the  privileges  of  the 
university  of  the  city  of  Cahors,  then  placed  under 
the  domination  of  the  English,  Edward,  Prince  of 
Wales,  wrote :  "  It  is  befitting  to  crown  with  all  the 
gifts  of  our  munificence  those  who  teach  how  to  dis- 

rTinguish  the  just  from  the  unjust."^  It  is  evident 
that  the  study  of  law  was  preferred  by  princes,  as 

1  the  study  of  theology  was  preferred   by  the   popes. 

1  M.  Liard,  UniversiUs  et  FaculUs.    Paris,  18SW,  p.  151. 
*  Coppi,  Le  Universitn  Italiane  nel  medio  evo.    Firenze,  1880, 
p.  73.  8  Baudel,  op.  cit.,  p.  40. 


CAUSES  OF  THE   RISE   OF  UNIVERSITIES        43 

In  1212,  Philip  the  Fair,  regulating  the  study  of 
civil  and  canonical  law  at  Orleans,  declared  that  the 
science  of  laws  and  of  written  law  is  profitable  for 
the  development  of  reason,' directs  morals,  and  by 
doctrine  prepares  for  the  practice  of  justice  and  the 
understanding  of  what  is  customary."  ^  It  is  notJ 
doubtfuPthat  considerations  of  utility  attracted  the 
sympathies  of  kings  toward  the  juridical  studies 
which  would  give  them  prudent  counsellors,  and 
legists  expert  in  the  management  of  affairs. 

Just  as  several  universities  were  organized  by  ai 
motu  proprio  of  popes,  to  combat  the  progress  of 
heresy,  so  others  were  created  by  the  will  of  kings, 
to  combat  the  inroads  of  foreign  politicians.  It  was_^ 
thus  that  in  1331,  in  the  midst  of  the  Hundred  Years 
war,  the  King  of  France,  Charles  VII,  solicited  from 
Pope  Eugene  IV  the  erection  of  the  University  of 
Poitiers.  It  was  a  question  for  him  who  had  been 
derisively  called  the  King  of  Bourges,  of  stirring 
up  national  sentiment  by  constituting,  in  a  province 
which  had  remained  faithful  and  French,  a  new  centre 
of  influence.  And  the  proof  is,  that  the  King  of 
England,  Henry  VI,  by  a  sort  of  retort,  hastened  to 
reply  to  the  establishment  of  the  French  University 
of  Poitiers,  by  obtaining  from  the  same  pope,  Eugene 
IV,  the  foundation  of  the  University  of  Caen  for  Nor- 
mandy in  1437,  and,  in  1441,  that  of  the  University  of 
Bordeaux  for  Guienne.^  Similar  reasons  determined 
Philip  II  of  Spain  to  install  a  university  at  Douai 

1  M.  Fournier,  op.  cit.,  t.  i,  p.  36. 

2  See  Barckhausen,  Statiits  et  rhjlements  de  I'ancienne  Univer- 
siU  de  Bordeaux.    Bordeaux,  1860. 


44  ABELARD 

in  1561.^  So,  too,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  King  Louis 
XI  and  Pope  Pius  II  agreed  to  authorize  the  univer- 
sities of  Nantes  in  Brittany  (1460),  and  of  Bourges 
in  Berry  (1463),  the  two  provinces  which  sent  most 
students  to  Paris ;  they  intended,  by  these  creations, 
to  reduce  and  counterbalance  the  importance  of  the 
University  of  Paris,  Avhich  had  compromised  itself 
at  this  epoch  by  supporting  the  Pragmatic  Sanction 
of  Bourges. 

Cnterests  of  every  sort,  then,  have  presided  at  the 
nation  of  the  universities.  In  Italy,  says  Coppi, 
many  studia  were  founded  by  the  cities  with  a  view 
to  increasing  the  population  and  the  wealth  of  the 
inhabitants.^  Among  this  number  were  Pavia  (1361) 
and  Ferrara  (1391).  The  Eepublic  of  Florence 
created  its  university  in  1348,  to  repair  the  breaches 
made  by  the  pest  in  its  population  and  prosperity. 

Thus  the  most  diverse  causes  contributed  to  the 
birth  of  the  universities  and  to  assuring  their  suc- 
\cess.  Nevertheless,  that  which  dominates  all  the 
rest  is  that,  in  a  society  ignorant  until  then,  the  uni- 
versities opened  for  the  first  time  a  free  course  to 
travail  of  the  mind  and  the  search  for  truth. 
Thenceforward  the  rude  cares  of  warfare  or  the  prac- 
tices of  a  blind  devotion  no  longer  absorbed  the  life 
of  the  Middle  Ages.  With  bad  methods,  doubtless, 
and  within  very  narrow  limits,  the  universities  were, 
notwithstanding,  superior  schools.  They  responded 
after  their  manner  to  the  travail  of  the  mind,  the 
vague  longing  after  knowledge  which  thereafter  tor- 

1  See  Debaisnes,  V  University  de  Douai.    Douai,  1866. 

2  Coppi,  op.  cit.,  p.  116. 


CAUSES  OF  THE   RISE   OF  UNIVERSITIES        45 

ments  human  consciousness.  Between  the  strong- 
holds of  the  nobles  and  the  cathedrals  of  the  bishops, 
they  were  the  sanctuaries  of  study.  As  was  elo- 
quently said  at  the  centenary  of  the  University  of 
Montpellier,  by  Professor  M.  Croiset:  ''Everywhere 
in  Europe  at  that  time,  the  two  powers  of  the  world, 
the  Church  and  feudalism,  attracted  all  attention,  one 
by  the  boldness  of  its  lofty  cathedrals,  the  other  by' 
the  massiveness  of  its  dungeons.  But  between  these 
two  and  at  their  feet,  an  obscure  force  is  already 
active,  composed  of  ideas  in  part,  and  in  part  of  pas- 
sions, a  menacing  force,  aroused  by  instinct,  and  which 
does  not  itself  know  as  yet  either  all  that  it  wishes^ 
or  all  that  it  can  do."  ' 


CHAPTER   III 

THE  RISE  OF  THE  UNIVERSITIES 

Various  and  irregular  origins  of  tlie  universities  —  Denifle's 
classification  —  Papal  or  royal  institution  —  The  universities  often 
grew  and  were  not  founded  —  Chronological  list  of  the  univer- 
sities erected  in  the  thirteenth,  fourteenth,  and  fifteenth  centu- 
ries—  The  university  movement  in  the  following  centuries  —  II. 
The  university-mothers:  Paris,  Bologna,  Oxford,  and  Salamanca 
—  The  successors  of  Abelard  — The  age  of  Robert  Grossetcste  in 
England — Roger  Bacon  —  Bologna  and  Irnerius  —  The  Univer- 
sity of  Salamanca  —  III.  Influence  of  the  University  of  Paris  — 
Universities  of  Germany  —  Of  England  —  Of  Spain  —  Of  Portu- 
gal—  Influence  of  the  University  of  Bologna  —  International  ex- 
change of  scholars  —  Peter  Lombard — ^  Peter  of  Blois  —  John  of 
Salisbury  —  Beginnings  of  the  University  of  Cambridge  —  The 
United  States  of  mediasval  universities. 


To  give  a  complete  idea  of  the  origin  of  the  uni- 
versities, one  should  be  able  to  relate  the  particular 
history  of  each  of  them,  and  to  enter  into  details 
incompatible  Avith  the  plan  of  this  treatise.  I  must 
be  content  with  certain  general  views,  and  set  aside 
the  particulars  which  abound,  and  which  permit  me 
to  say  that,  during  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
centuries  at  least,  no  two  universities  were  founded 
under  identical  conditions.  It  is  only  in  the  fif- 
teenth century  that  the  formalities  of  institution  for 
40 


THE  RISE  OP  THE  UNIVERSITIES  47 

new  universities  were  regulated.  The  civil  power, 
a  king,  an  emperor,  or  some  nobleman,  took  the  first 
steps,  and  solicited  the  pontifical  power  for  a  bull  of 
erection.  This  bull,  which  was  never  refused,  author- 
ized the  creation  of  the  university,  conceded  privi- 
leges to  it,  and  determined  the  number  of  faculties. 
Then  the  civil  power  intervened  anew  and  confirmed 
the  organization  of  the  university  by  a  definite  act. 

But  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  in 
the  period  of  hesitancy  and  of  laborious  births,  we 
must  not  expect  to  find  this  precision  and  this  regu- 
larity of  form.  Sometimes,  and  most  frequently,  it 
was  the  pope  who  took  the  initiative ;  sometimes  it 
was  the  head  of  the  state.  Thus  John  XXII  founded 
the  University  of  Cahors  in  1332,  and  it  was  only  in 
1308  that  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  in  1370  that 
Louis,  Duke  of  Anjou  and  lieutenant  of  the  king  of 
France  in  Languedoc,  conferred  upon  it  the  favor 
of  a  civil  institution.^  By  an  inverse  proceeding, 
otlier  universities  were  created  by  roj'al  decree  and 
waited  years  for  the  pontifical'  consecration.  Sala- 
manca was  legally  established  in  1243,  by  privilege 
of  Ferdinand  III,  king  of  Leon  and  Castile ;  and  did 
not  receive  a  bull  from  Pope  Alexander  IV,  ap- 
proving the  foundation,  until  1254.*  So  likewise  the 
English  University  of  Cambridge  had  been  already 
recognized  by  royal  authority  in  1217  ;  it  is  from 
this  year,  in  fact,  that  its  "earliest  authentic  legal 
instrument"  is  dated,  an  edict  of  the  king,  Henry  III, 
addressed  to   all   clerks   of   Cambridge ;   but   it  was 

1  Fournier,  op.  cit.,  t.  ii,  pp.  55;)-558. 

2  Viceuto  (le  hi  Fiieiito,  op.  cit.,  X.  i,  pp.  90,  ?.12. 


48  ABELARD 

only  a  hundred  years  later,  in  1318,  that  Pope  John 
XXII  accorded  to  Cambridge  formal  recognition  as 
a  studium  generale.  Sometimes  the  civil  and  the 
ecclesiastical  authorities  were  not  wholly  in  agree- 
ment. For  example,  Clement  V  erected  the  Uni- 
versity of  Orleans  in  1306,  through  a  sentiment  of 
gratitude  toward  the  schools  of  that  city,  where  he 
had  studied  law ;  and  1312,  the  King  of  France, 
Philip  the  Fair,  issued  letters-patent  which,  while 
maintaining  the  University  of  Orleans,  profoundly 
modified  the  privileges  granted  it  by  the  pope.^ 
["It  is  far  from  true,  moreover,  that  all  of  the  uni- 
versities have  had  the  double  institution ;  many  of 
them  had  to  be  content,  some  with  a  papal  bull, 
others  with  a  royal  or  imperial  decree.  There  are 
even  some,  and  among  the  number  the  most  impor- 
tant and  the  most  ancient,  which  erected  them- 
selves, so  to  speak,  and  which  cannot  exhibit  in  their 
f^flCartularium  any  written  act  of  institution.  "  The 
I  earliest  universities,"  says  Laurie,  "grew  and  were 
[^  not  founded." 

This  is  so  true  that  P^re  Denifl^,  in  his  learned 
work  on  the  universities  of  the  Middle  Ages,^  has 
adopted  as  his  principle  of  classification  for  the  uni- 
versities, and  the  basis  of  his  labor,  this  diversity  of 
r  origin.     He   distinguishes,  in  effect,   four   categories 
I   of  universities  :  1.  The  high  schools,  which  organized 
1  themselves,  without  a  written  act  of  erection   {ohne 
\  Emchhmgs-briefe),  —  for  example,  Salernum,  Oxford, 

1  Bimbenet,  op.  cit.,  p.  15  et  seq. 

2  Die  Entstehung  der   Universitaten  des  Mittelalters  bis  1400, 
Berlin,  1885. 


THE   RISE   OF  THE   UNIVERSITIES  49 

Cambridge,  Amgers,  Padua,  etc. ;  2.  Those  whose 
establishment  was  decreed  by  the  pontifical  will, — 
Kome,  Pisa,  Toulouse,  Montpellier,  Avignon,  Cahors, 
etc. ;  3.  Those  founded  by  a  king  or  emperor,  — 
Arezzo,  Palencia,  Naples,  Orange,  Salamanca,  etc. ; 
4.  Those,  finally,  and  they  were  the  least  numerous 
during  the  period  studied  by  Pere  Denifle,  —  that  is 
to  say,  up  to  1400,  —  which  had  the  double  investi- 
ture,—  Prague,  Vienna,  etc.  . 

Very  few  at  the  beginning,  the  universities  rapidly  1 
multiplied  themselves  with  a  prodigious  fecundity  ;  ^  | 
and  by  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  there  were 
already  nearly  eighty  institutions  of  the  sort  presid- 
ing over  the  intellectual  movement  of  Europe.  It  is 
to  be  remarked,  moreover,  that  during  three  hundred 
years  this  movement  went  on  accelerating  from  cen- 
tury to  century.  In  the  twelfth  century  there  had 
been  but  a  single  official  institution, — that  of  Bologna, 
in  1158;  in  the  thirteenth  century  we  reckon  nine- 
teen or  twenty,  most  of  them  between  1200  and  1250 ; 
in  the  fourteenth,  more  than  twenty-five;  in  the  fif- 
teenth century,  thirty.  Here  is  the  list,  with  the 
description  of  their  foundation :  ^  — 

1 1  omit  a  certain  number  of  studia  which  appear  to  have 
claimed,  unsuccessfully,  the  title  of  university;  for  example,  in 
Italy,  Rcfjgio,  where  a  school  of  law  flourished  toward  the  end  of 
the  twelfth  century ;  Modena,  which,  after  obtaining  from  Honorius 
III  and  Frederick  III  (1225  and  122G)  the  concession  of  privileges, 
was  unable  to  stand  tlie  competition  of  Bologna,  and  soon  disap- 
peared.   It  was  the  same  with  Vicena  (1204),  etc. 


60  ABELARD 

Thirteenth  Century 

1200,  Paris ;  privilege  granted  by  Philip  Augustus. 

12 — ,  Oxford ;  whose  university  constituted  itself  without  any 

official  sanction ;  the  first  royal  recognition,  a  charter 

from  Henry  III,  is  dated  in  1258.  ^ 
12 — ,  Cambridge ;  which  sprang  from  Oxford,  and  developed 

spontaneously  like  Oxford ;  letters-patent  from  Henry 

in  in  1217  and  1231 ;  a  bull  from  Pope  John  XXII  in 

1318. 
12 — ,  Arezzo  ;  which  likewise  dates  from  the  first  half  of  the 

thirteenth  century ;   imperial  recognition  from  Charles 

IV  in  1355. 
1212,  Palencia;-  in  Spain,  founded  by  Alfonso  VIII,  King  of 

Castile. 
1222,  Padua;  which  arose  from  an  emigi-ation  of  Bolognese 

professors. 
1224,  Naples ;  Frederick  II,  Emperor  of  Germany. 
1224-1228,  Verceil ;  which  arose  from  an  emigration  of  profes- 
sors from  Padua.8 
1229,  Toulouse;  Pope  Gregory  IX. 

1243,  Salamanca;  Ferdinand  III,  King  of  Castile  and  Leon; 

confirmation  in  1254  from  Pope  Alexander  IV. 

1244,  Curia  Romana;  Pope  Innocent  IV;  this  school  followed 

the  popes  to  Avignon. 

1245,  Valencia  ;  in  Spain  ;  James  I,  King  of  Aragon. 

1248,  Plaisance ;  in  Italy  ;  Innocent  IV ;  the  Duke  of  Milan, 
Galeazzo  II,  confirmed  its  privileges  in  1398. 

1  Laurie  affirms  that  Oxford  had  been  "  a  true  uuiversity  "  from 
1140,  and  Cambridge  from  1200;  but  he  admits  that  "  their  uuiver- 
sity organization  took  its  form  about  1230,  after  the  Paris  migra- 
tion."   Laurie,  op.  cit.,  p.  242. 

.  2  The  university  of  Palencia  had  but  an  ephemeral  existence. 
St.  Dominic  studied  there. 

8  Verceil  was  never  very  important,  and  soon  disappeared.  On 
all  the  Italian  universities,  see  Savigny,  Geschichte  des  riimischen 
Rechta. 


THE  RISE   OF  THE  UNIVERSITIES  51 

1254,   Seville;   Alfonso    X,  the   Wise,   King   of    Castile  and 
Leon. 

1288,  Lisbon ;    Denis,    King  of  Portugal ;    Pope  Nicholas  IV 

transferred  it  to  Coirabra  in  1308. 

1289,  Montpellier ;  Pope  Nicholas  IV.^ 

1289,  Gray ;  Otho  IV,  Count  of  Burgundy  ;  transferred  to  Dole 

in  1423  by  Philip  the  Good. 
1293,  AJcala  ;  Sancho  IV,  King  of  Aragon. 
1295,  Pamiers;  Pope  Boniface  VIII. 

Fourteenth  Century 

1300,  Lerida  ;  James  II,  King  of  Aragon  and  Sicily. 
1303,  Rome  ;  Pope  Boniface  VIII. 
1303,  Avignon  ;  Pope  Boniface  VIII. 

1306,  Orleans  ;  Pope  Clement  V ;  in  1312,  King  Philip  the  Fair.2 

1307,  Perouse  ;  Clement  V  ;  in  1355,  the  Emperor  Charles  IV. 

1308,  Coimbra,   already  organized    toward    the  close   of   the 

thirteenth  century,  in  1279 ;  successor  to  the  Univer- 
sity of  Lisbon.  , 

1310,  Dublin;  Pope  Clement  V. 

1332,  Cahors  ;  Pope  John  XXII. 

1339,  Grenoble  ;  the  Dauphin,  Humbert  II ;  Pope  Benedict  XII. 

1343,  Pisa ;  Pope  Clement  VI. 

1346,  Valladolid  ;  Pope  Clement  VL 

1347,  Prague  ;  Pope  Clement  VI ;  in  1348,  the  Emperor  Charles 

IV.  8 
1349,  Florence  ;  confirmed  in  1364  by  Charles  IV, 
1349,  Perpignan ;   Peter  IV,   King  of  Aragon ;    confirmed  in 

1379  by  Clement  VII. 

1  Montpellier  had  flourishing  schools  long  before  1289.  By  1220, 
the  statutes  for  the  teaching  of  medicine  had  been  drawn  up  by  a 
papal  legate.  In  1230  St.  Louis  regulated  by  an  ordinance  the 
promotions  of  the  faculty  of  law. 

2  Orleans  had  been  a  university  of  civil  law  a  hundred  years 
before  the  formal  recognition  of  1306. 

8  Charles  IV  took  the  initiative,  and  asked  the  pope  to  institute 
this  uniyersity. 


52  ABELAED 

1354,  Huesca;  Peter  IV,  King  of  Aragon;  re-established  in 
1464  by  Pope  Paul  II. 

1357,  Sienna;  from  1321,  emigration  to  Sienna  of  professors 
from  Bologna ;  privileges  conceded,  1357,  by  the  Em- 
peror Charles  IV. 

1361,  Pavia;  Charles  IV  ;  in  1389,  Boniface  VIII. 

1365,  Vienna;  the  Emperor  Rodolphus  IV  ;  Pope  Urban  V, 

1365,  Geneva ;  the  Emperor  Charles  IV. 

1365,  Orange ;  Charles  IV. 

1365,  Cracovia  ;  Casimir  III,  King  of  Poland  ;  Urban  V. 

1367,  Funfkirchen,  in  Hungary  ;  Urban  V. 

1367,  Angers ;  Louis  II,  Duke  of  Anjou.^ 

1379,  Erfurt;  Pope  Clement  VII. 

1385,  Cologne;  Pope  Urban  VI. 

1385,  Heidelberg;  Pope  Urban  VI. 

1389,  Ofen ;  Boniface  IX. 

1391,  Ferrara ;  Boniface  IX ;  this  university  had  been  estab- 
lished by  municipal  statutes  since  1263. 

Fifteenth  Century 

Wiirzburg,  1403;  Txirin,  1405;  Aix,  in  Provence,  1409 
Leipsic,  1409 ;  St.  Andrews,  Scotland,  1412 ;  Eostock,  1419 
Dole,  1423  ;  Louvain,  1426 ;  Poitiers,  1431  ;  Caen,  1436 
Bordeaux,  1441 ;  Catana,  1445 ;  Valence,  in  France,  1452 
Treves,  Glasgow,  1454 ;  Freiburg,  Greifswald,  1456 ;  Basel 
1469 ;  Nantes,  1460 ;  BesanQon,  1464  ;  Bourges,  1469 ;  Ingol 
stadt,  1472  ;  Saragossa,  1474  ;  Copenhagen,  1476  ;  Upsala,  1476 
Tubingen,  Mayence,  1477  ;  Parma,  1482. 

Who  could  deny,  after  merely  glancing  over  this  long 
enumeration,  the  importance  of  the  university  move- 
ment in  the  last  three  centuries  of  the  Middle  Ages  ? 
Doubtless  among  these  universities  many  remained 

>  Angers  had  flourishing  schools  in  the  first  half  of  the  thirteenth 
century. 


THE   RISE   OF  THE   UNIVERSITIES  63 

obscure  or  had  no  effective  existence.  Occasionally 
they  were  but  the  ephemeral  adornment  of  over- 
ambitious  cities  which  did  not  possess  the  resources 
necessary  to  make  great  schools  prosper.  Some  of 
them,  born  of  the  favoritism  of  popes  or  kings,  or 
owing  their  existence  to  a  sort  of  local  vanity,  have 
inscribed  their  modest  titles  for  a  few  years  only  in 
the  history  of  the  universities.  But,  on  the  other 
h^nd,  how  many  have  remained  glorious,  and  main- 
tained to  our  own  day,  while  undergoing  a  trans- 
formation, their  useful  and  laborious  existence  ? 

In  the  sixteenth  century  the  creations  did  not 
slacken.  The  age  of  the  Renaissance  saw  the  birth 
of  more  than  thirty  universities,  among  them  some 
which  have  left  a  mark  in  the  history  of  letters 
and  sciences ;  for  example,  Aberdeen  (1506),  Konigs- 
berg  (1542),  Jena  (1552),  Leyden  (1575),  Edinburgh 
(1582).  Two  special  causes  were  added  during  the 
sixteenth  century  to  those  general  ones  which,  in  that 
epoch  of  renovation,  were  bound  to  multiply  scholastic 
foundations.  On  the  one  hand,  the  Reformation  gave 
rise  to  the  institution  of  Protestant  universities  —  the 
first  was  that  of  Marburg,  in  1527 ;  on  the  other,  the 
creation  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  among  other  peda- 
gogic consequences,  had  that  of  the  establishment  of 
Jesuit  universities  —  for  example,  that  of  Messina,* 
which  Ignatius  of  Loyola  organized  in  1547  by  send- 

1  The  University  of  Messina  was  instituted,  on  paper,  in  1459 
by  King  John  of  Sicily.  But  it  was  not  until  1550  that  Pope  Paul 
III,  at  the  request  of  Loyola,  granted  the  bull  of  erection.  The 
Jesuits  multiplied  in  Sicily,  and  in  the  eighteenth  century  they  were 
the  masters  of  instruction  throughout  the  island. 


54  ABELARD 

ing  several  members  of  his  order  thither ;  and  that  of 
Pont  a  Mousson,  also,  which  dates  from  1572.^ 

Between  1600  and  1700,  although  most  of  the  cities 
that  were  able  to  support  universities  were  already- 
provided  with  them,  we  see  twenty-one  more  created, 
chiefly  in  Germany  and  Holland,  —  France  and  Italy 
having  long  since  attained  the  maximum  that  they  were 
capable  of  reaching.  Finally,  in  the  eighteenth  and 
nineteenth  centuries,  without  speaking  of  transatlantic 
universities,  of  those  which  in  America  have  consti- 
tuted themselves  the  fortunate  rivals  and  the  vigorous 
imitators  of  the  universities  of  the  Old  World,  more 
than  forty  new  universities  have  seen  the  light  of 
day  in  Europe.' 

II 

But  I  must  go  back  and  keep  within  the  limits  of 
my  subject.  From  the  thirteenth  century,  England 
with  Oxford,  Spain  with  Salamanca,  France  with 
Paris,  Italy  with  Bologna,  leaving  unmentioned  the 
universities  of  less  importance,  had  each  a  focus  of 
instruction  whose  brilliancy  streamed  afar.  Germany 
was  behindhand,  —  it  is  true  that  it  has  caught  up 
very  well  since,  —  and  it  was  not  until  the  fourteenth 
century  that  it  followed  the  movement.     The  first 

1  The  University  of  Pont  &  Mousson  in  Lorraine  was  instituted 
by  Duke  Charles  III,  and  Pope  Gregory  XIII.  See,  concerning  this 
university,  various  opuscules  by  M.  Favier,  Nancy,  1878,  1880. 

2  Among  this  number  are  Berlin,  1810;  Christiania,  1811;  St. 
Petersburg,  1819;  Brussels,  1834;  London,  1836;  Athens,  1836.  In 
France  the  Revolution  and  the  Empire  suppressed  the  ancient  uni- 
versities, and  at  the  present  time  the  law  whicli  proposes  to  re- 
establish them  is  being  discussed  in  the  French  Senate. 


THE   RISE  OF  THE  UNIVERSITIES  55 

German  university,  that  of  Prague,  dates,  in  fact, 
from  1347.  It  will  be  interesting  to  review  rapidly 
the  history  of  the  origins  of  those  great  universities 
of  the  thirteenth  century  —  which  one  might  call  the 
mother-universities,  because  from  them  nearly  all  the 
others  originated  —  and  to  show  that  similar  circum- 
stances presided  at  their  formation. 

At  Paris  the  movement  created  by  Abelard  sur- 
vived him.  The  influx  of  students  from  every  na- 
tion was  prodigious  during  the  second  half  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  and  we  are  told  that  it  was  one 
of  the  causes  which  determined  Philip  Augustus  to 
enlarge  the  circumference  of  Paris. ^  Men  who  had 
a  great  reputation  in  their  time  continued  Abelard's 
instruction.  Among  the  number  was  Gilbert  de  la 
Porree,  who  taught  theology.  He  also  was  a  her- 
etic, and  was  persecuted  in  his  turn  by  St.  Ber- 
nard, who  procured  his  condemnation  by  the  Council 
of  Rome  in  1148.''  After  him  I  may  cite  Peter  Lom- 
bard^ and  Maurice  de  Sully,  who  succeeded  Peter 
Lombard  as  Bishop  of  Paris  in  1150;  and  who  arrived 
as  a  mendicant,  begging  his  bread,  in  the  city  where 
he  was  afterwards  to  teach  philosophy  and  theology 
with  so  much  renown,  and  to  occupy  its  highest  eccle- 
siastical dignity.*  Popes  Adrian  IV  (1154-1159)  and 
Innocent   IV    (1198-1216)    studied   at   Paris    during 

1  Juvenal  des  Ursins,  in  1435,  afiirnicd  that  tliere  liad  been  from 
16,000  to  20,000  students  in  Paris  the  previous  year.  Tlicir  number 
must  have  been  still  more  considerable  in  tlie  thirteenth  century, 
when  the  universities  were  not  yefniultiplied. 

2  Gilbert  de  la  Porre'e  (1070-1154). 
8  See  chapter  v. 

*  Maurice  de  Sully  (1105-1196). 


£6  ABELARD 

this  period.  An  English  historian  enumerates  no 
fewer  than  thirty-two  eminent  Oxonians  who  had  also 
studied  at  Paris,  and  among  them  Robert  Grosseteste 
and  Roger  Bacon.^  The  schools  of  Mount  Ste.  Gene- 
vieve and  of  St.  Victor  had  their  clientele,  and  the 
cathedral  school  of  Notre  Dame  continued  to  flourish. 
And  it  was  not  from  the  ancient  palatine  school,  long 
before  dispersed,  but  *'  from  the  reunion  of  the  schools 
of  logic  established  on  the  mountain  with  the  school 
of  theology  that  was  in  the  cloister  of  Notre  Dame, 
that  the  University  of  Paris  was  formed."  ^ 

Bologna,  like  Paris,  laid  claim  to  very  ancient 
beginnings,  and  in  Dezobry's  Dictionnaire  de  biogra- 
phie  et  d'histoire  (1857)  one  may  read:  "The  Uni- 
versity of  Bologna  owes  its  origin  to  a  school  of  law 
founded  by  Theodosius  II,  in  425,  and  revived  by 
Charlemagne."  More  enterprising  still,  certain  his- 
torians of  the  University  of  Cambridge  trace  back 
the  foundation  of  their  university  to  the  fourth 
century  before  Jesus  Christ.  "The  year  375  b.c," 
wrote,  in  1574,  an  adventurous  author,  "  a  son  of  the 
king  of  Spain,  named  Cantaber,  landed  in  England, 
founded  the  town  of  Cambridge,  and  there  instituted 
a  university,  composed  at  first  of  philosophers  and 
astronomers  whom  he  had  brought  with  him  from 
the  city  of  Athens."  * 

Something  must  be  abated  from  these  pretensions 
to  antiquity.     As  a  school  of  law,  Bologna  does  not 

1  Mallinger,  op.  cit.,  p.  134.  ^  Thurot,  op.  cAt.,  p.  7. 

8  Concerning  these  legends,  see  Mnllinger,  op.  cit.,  p.  450.  The 
fabulous  tradition  related  above  proceeds  from  the  English  doctor, 
John  Caye. 


THE   RISE   OF   THE   UNIVERSITIES  57 

appear  to  date  earlier  than  the  twelfth  century.  In 
the  commencement  of  that  century  the  professors 
of  jurisprudence  occupied  an  important  position 
there.  From  1123  they  composed  one  of  the  three 
sovereign  assemblies  of  the  city  of  Bologna,  —  that 
which  was  called  the  Council  of  Credence  (Consiglio 
di  Credenza).  It  was  in  1137  that  Irnerius  taught 
there,  and  he  was  the  true  founder  of  this  university, 
as  we  shall  see  later  on.^ 

In  England,  for  the  mother-university,  that  of 
Oxford,  there  was  a  slow  and  progressive  prepara- 
tion. Here  we  have  not  to  go  back  to  the  remote 
beginnings,  to  the  influence  exercised  in  the  eighth 
century  by  the  celebrated  Bede,''  of  whom  an  English 
writer  has  said  that,  "in  his  tomb  science  was  en- 
shrouded during  four  centuries "  ;  nor  to  the  part 
played  by  Alfred  the  Great,  and  the  efforts  to  regen- 
erate studies  in  his  realm,  which  he  made  in  the  ninth 
century  in  imitation  of  Charlemagne.  I  need  only 
say  that  at  that  epoch  Oxford  possessed  flourishing 
schools.  They  were  twice  pillaged  and  destroyed  by 
the  Danish  invasions,  but  by  the  eleventh  century 
they  had  regained  their  old  position.  The  rhetoric  of 
Cicero  and  the  logic  of  Aristotle  were  studied  there.^ 
After  having  suffered  further  loss  at  the  time  of  the 
Norman  conquest,  Oxford,  thanks  to  the  protection  of 
Henry  I,  third  son  and  second  successor  of  William 
the   Conqueror,   again  became   a   centre   of    studies. 

1  See  Part  III,  chap,  iii,  where  I  shall  have  occasion  to  return 
to  the  founder  of  the  University  of  Bologna. 

2  Bede,  an  English  monk  and  historian  (073-7;?.")). 

8  Vallet  de  Viriville,  Histoire  de  l' instruction  publique  en 
Europe,  1869,  p.  100. 


58  ABELARD 

Undoubtedly  there  were  then  none  of  those  scho- 
lastic palaces  which  arose  there  in  the  course  of 
time.  It  is  related  that  the  lecture-halls  and  the 
houses  where  the  students  lodged  were  built  of  wood 
and  thatched  with  straw,  and  were  thus  at  the  mercy 
of  the  fire  which  devoured  them  in  1130.  But  stu- 
dents flocked  thither  none  the  less.  More  than  else- 
where, perhaps,  the  protection  of  the  higher  clergy 
was  gained  in  England  for  the  rising  universities ; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  religious  orders,  the 
Franciscans  and  Dominicans,  played  a  great  part  in 
the  revival  of  studies. 

One  man  who  has  left  many  memories  of  himself 
in  his  own  country,  Robert  Grosseteste  (1175-1253), 
contributed  particularly  toward  this  movement.  The 
first  half  of  the  thirteenth  century  in  England  has 
been  designated  "the  age  of  Robert  Grosseteste,"^ 
just  as,  in  France,  the  first  half  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury might  be  called  the  age  of  Abelard,  *'  He  was," 
says  Laurie,  "  a  patriot  and  a  scholar  and  a  human- 
ist." ^  He  had  studied  at  Oxford,  at  Cambridge,  and 
at  Paris.  After  becoming  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  he  did 
not  cease  to  foster  learning :  by  his  Avritings  he 
popularized  the  works  of  Aristotle.  And  it  was  not 
merely  Greek  books,  in  the  form  of  translations,  that 
he  introduced  into  the  English  schools  ;  Mullinger 
affirms  that  he  sought  to  attract  Greek  scholars  to 
England. 

One  name  will  serve  to  show  what  the  intellectual 
development  of  England  was  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 

1  Mullinger,  The  University  of  Cambridge,  1873,  p.  M. 
*  Laurie,  op.  cit.,  p.  239. 


THE  RISE  OF  THE  UNIVERSITIES  59 

tury, —  that  of  the  monk  Roger  Bacon  (1214-1294). 
Roger  Bacon,  before  studying  in  Paris,  had  studied 
at  Oxford;  then  he  established  himself  in  England. 
By  the  freedom  of  his  researches  and  the  boldness 
of  his  experiments  he  aroused  the  fanaticism  of  his 
contemporaries,  and  was  accused  of  magic.  At  the 
same  time,  uniting  a  love  of  antiquity  to  a  taste  for 
investigation  in  the  natural  sciences,  he  collected  the 
masterpieces  of  classic  literature  at  great  expense, 
and,  for  his  time,  became  a  Humanist  of  the  first 
rank. 

The  University  of  Salamanca  was  the  queen  of 
Spanish  universities.  Founded  about  the  year  1200, 
it  did  not  receive  its  official  charter  until  1243, 
from  the  hands  of  Ferdinand  III,  King  of  Castile 
and  Leon.  But  from  its  very  beginning  it  took  its 
place  in  the  first  rank,  among  the  great  centres  of 
instruction.  It  took  part  in  drawing  up  the  cele- 
brated astronomical  tables  of  the  King  of  Castile, 
Alfonso  X,  the  Wise.  Like  the  University  of  Paris, 
it  was  mixed  up  with  the  great  religious  quar- 
rels of  the  age,  and  took  part  in  the  sohism  of  the 
West  by  pronouncing  for  the  popes  of  Avignon.* 
It  must  not  be  forgotten  that,  later  on,  in  the  fif- 
teenth century,  it  lent  a  courageous  support  to 
Christopher  Columbus,  that  it  alone  had  faith  in 
the  success  of  his  great  adventure,  and  that  in  the 
Convent  of  the  Dominicans  of  St.  Stephen,  whose 
house  is  still  in  existence  at  Salamanca,  the  project 
of  navigation  to  which  the  fifteenth   century  owed 

1  Henry  VIII,  King  of  England,  consulted  it  in  1527  concerning 
his  divorce  from  Katharine. 


60  ABELAKD 

the  discovery  of  America,  was  discussed  and  ap- 
T*proved.  In  the  sixteenth  century  the  University 
of  Salamanca  was  teaching  the  Copernican  system, 
1  while  Galileo  was  in  prison.  More  than  once  it  gave 
professors  to  Bologna  and  to  Paris.'  The  bachelors 
of  Salamanca  remained  celebrated  up  to  the  eigh- 
teenth century.  All  through  the  Middle  Ages,  more 
than  four  thousand  students  pursued  there  a  course 
of  instruction  as  complete  and  as  various  as  that 
imparted  at  Paris. 

The  question  has  been  much  discussed  in  Spain  as 

to  whether  or  no  the  University  of  Salamanca  was 

derived  from  that   of  Palencia,  which  was   founded 

some  years  earlier,  in  1212.^     What  is  certain  is  that 

in  the  twelfth  century  there  were  important  schools 

in  Salamanca,  schools  which,  like  those  of  Paris,  were 

(installed  in  the  cloister  of  the  cathedral.     It  is  also 

1  established  that,  from  the  beginning,  medical  studies 

took  an  important  place  in  the  University  of  Sala- 

I  manca ;  and  that  the  inspiration  of  these  schools  came 

Xiipni   Arabian    physicians.      In   the    tenth    century, 

Gerbert,  before  becoming  Pope  Sylvester  II,  went  to 

seek  in  the  Mohammedan  academies  in  the  south  of 

Spain  more  thorough  instruction  than  he  had  been 

able  to  find  in  the  Christian  schools  of  France.     The 

presence  of  the  Moors  and  the  brilliancy  of  Arabian 

science,  the  philosophy  of  Averroes,  and  the  medicine 

1  In  the  sixteenth  century,  a  canon  of  Salamanca,  Peter  Cizuelo, 
taught  mathematics  at  Paris ;  and.  at  the  same  epoch,  Bologna  bor- 
rowed Ramos  dc  Pareja,  who  passes  for  the  inventor  of  modern 
music,  from  Salamanca. 

2  Vicente  do  la  Fuente,  ojj.  cit.,  t.  i,  p.  76. 


THE    RISE   OF   THE   UNIVERSITIES  61 

of  Avicenna,  exercised  a  manifest  influence  on  the 
development  of  studies  at  Salamanca.  Here,  then, 
as  elsewhere,  there  was  a  scholastic  movement  which 
preceded  royal  ordinances ;  although  the  individual 
action  of  sovereigns  particularly  favorable  to  the 
sciences,  of  a  king  who  was  a  mathematician  and 
astronomer,  for  example,  like  Alfonso  the  "Wise, 
may  have  contributed  much  to  the  development  of 
the  University  of  Salamanca. 


Ill 

The  example  once  given  by  the  "mother-univer- 
sities," the  foundation  of  other  universities  was 
merely  a  question  of  imitation.  Paris  especially  was 
imitated.  "The  Universities  of  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge in  England,  of  Prague,  Vienna,  Heidelberg, 
and  Cologne  in  Germany,  derived  their  formal  consti- 
tution, the  tradition  of  their  education,  and  their  j 
modes  of  instruction  from  Paris.  The  influence, 
this  university  has  indeed  emboldened  some  writers 
to  term  her  '  the  Sinai  of  instruction '  in  the  Middle 
Ages."^ 

When  the  Emperor  Charles  IV  organized,  in  1348, 
the  first  German  university,  that  of  Prague,  which 
had  been  authorized  in  1347  by  a  bull  of  Clement  VI, 
he  drew  upon  his  memories  as  a  former  student 
of  the  University  of  Paris.  As  DoUinger  says,  "  in 
memory  of  his  student  life  in  the  Rue  de  Fouarre,  he 
wished  to  have  a  copy  of  the  University  there  in  his 

1  MuUinger,  op.  cit.,  p.  74. 


62  ABELARD 

hereditary  kingdom  of  Bohemia."  ^  So,  too,  in  1385, 
when  Pope  Urban  VI  organized  the  University  of 
Heidelberg,  still  so  flourishing,  the  pontifical  bull 
states  that  the  new  studium  generate  wovild  be  estab- 
lished according  to  the  hallowed  formula,  ad  instar 
studii  Parisiensis}  Vienna,  for  its  part,  whose  uni- 
versity dates  from  1365,  claimed  to  continue  the  tra- 
ditions of  Athens,  of  Rome,  and  of  Paris.^  Paris  had 
succeeded  to  the  literary  capitals  of  the  ancient  world. 
Paris,  said  St.  Bonaventura,  is  the  source  Avhence  the 
streams  of  science  spread  over  the  whole  world. 

In  England,  French  influence  shone  with  no  less 
brilliancy.  Oxford,  which  according  to  Laurie  "was 
entitled  to  the  name  *  Universitas '  about  1140,"  *  and 
which  in  any  case  comprised  a  great  number  of  stu- 
dents at  the  end  of  the  twelfth  or  the  beginning  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  since  in  1209,  says  a  contemporary 
chronicler,  when  an  emigration  to  Cambridge  occurred, 
recesserunt  ah  Oxonia  tria  millia  dericoruni  tarn  magis- 
trorumquam  discipulorum,^  —  Oxford  was  several  times 
stimulated  and  improved  by  the  coming  of  foreign 
professors  from  Bologna,  and  especially  from  Paris. 
It  was  Vacarius,  a  Bolognese,  who  in  1149  tried  to 
install  the  study  of  Roman  law  there ;  but  it  was  a 
former   student   of  Paris,  an  Englishman   by  birth, 

1  Charles  IV,  says  an  author  of  his  time,  ordained  that  "  67m- 
dium  Pragense  ad  moduin  ct  consuetudinem  studii  Parisiensis, 
in  quo  olim  ipse  rex  in  puerilibus  constit^ttus  annis  studuerat,  in 
omnibus  et  per  omnia  dirigeretur  et  regerctur,"  Denifle,  Die  Ent- 
stehung  der  Universitdten,  etc.,  p.  588. 

2  Denifle,  op.  cit.,  etc.,  p.  382.         8  Denifle,  op.  cit.,  etc.,  p.  605. 
*  Laurie,  op.  cit.,  lecture  xiii,  Oxford  and  Cambridge. 

6  Denifle,  op.  cit.,  p.  242. 


THE  RISE   OF  THE  UNIVERSITIES  63 

moreover,  Robert  Pulleyne,  who  in  1130  "  endeavored 
to  revive  the  teaching  of  theology,  and  succeeded  in 
infusing  a  higher  spirit  into  the  Oxford  schools."  ^ 
Later,  in  1228,  when,  after  a  students'  riot  and  the 
reprisals  provoked  by  it,  the  masters  and  students  of 
Paris  emigrated  in  great  numbers,  it  was  not  only  in 
the  studious  towns  of  France,  in  Angers,  Orleans,  and 
Eheims,  that  they  took  shelter,  but  also  in  Oxford  and 
Cambridge.  Henry  III,  King  of  England,  had  invited 
them  thither  in  a  letter  the  text  of  which  has  been 
preserved  :  "Duximus  vestrce  Universitati  significandum 
quod  si  vobis  placeat  ad  regnum  nostrum  Anglice.  vos 
transfei-re  .  .  .  civitates,  burgos  vel  villas  quascumque 
velitis  eligere  vobis  ad  hoc  assignabimus."  ^  This  appeal 
was  listened  to.  The  migrating  masters  repaired  in 
part  to  Oxford,  and,  says  Laurie,  "they  would  carry 
the  genius  of  Paris  with  them." 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  the  provincial 
universities  of  France  have  been,  for  the  most  part, 
faithful  copies  of  the  University  of  Paris  ;  Montpel- 
lier  must  be  excepted,  since  it  drew  its  inspiration 
partly  from  Bologna.  It  is  true  that,  in  the  papal 
bulls  relating  to  the  universities,  it  is  almost  invari- 
ably written  that  they  should  be  organized  ad  instar 
studii  Tolosani.    But  the  University  of  Toulouse  itself, 

1  Robert  Pulleyne  wrote  a  book  of  Sentences,  which  is  thought 
to  have  suggested  that  of  Peter  Lombard,  which  became  the  hand- 
book of  theology  in  the  schools  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

2  Chartxilarium  Univ.  Paris.,  t.  i,  p.  119.  The  University  Col- 
lege was  founded  at  Oxford  four  years  later,  in  1232.  In  1240, 
Robert  Grosieteste  ordered  the  professors  of  theology  at  Oxford 
to  conform,  in  their  lectures,  to  the  usages  followed  at  Paris. 
lUd.,  p.  169. 


«4  ABELARD 

the  most  ancient  after  Paris,  was  modelled  after  the 
great  Parisian  school ;  the  privileges  were  the  same, 
and,  due  allowances  being  made,  the  studies  were 
similar.  Through  Toulouse,  then,  it  was  Paris  which 
was  copied  everywhere,  at  Orleans,  Angers,  Poitiers, 
Caen,  Bordeaux,  etc. 

Even  in  Spain,  where,  nevertheless,  Bologna  and 
Montpellier  had  much  influence,  a  strictly  French 
influence  made  itself  felt.  When  the  King  of  Ara- 
gon,  James  II,  established  the  University  of  Lerida 
in  1300,  he  aftirmed  in  his  decree  that  "the  Holy 
See  granted  to  the  new  studium  the  same  indul- 
gences, immunities,  and  favors  already  granted  to  the 
Studium  of  Toulouse."  ^  In  the  previous  century, 
Alfonso  VIII,  King  of  Castile,  had  constituted  the 
University  of  Palencia  by  inviting  "masters  of  the- 
ology and  the  liberal  arts  from  Prance  and  Italy,  to 
whom,  in  order  to  retain  them,  he  assigned  large  sal- 
aries "  {Sapientes  e  Oallia  et  Italia  convocavit,  quibus 
magna  stipendia  est  largitus).^  So,  too,  it  was  the 
privileges  of  the  University  of  Toulouse  that  Pope 
Nicholas  V  conceded  in  1450  to  the  University  of 
Barcelona.  When  Pope  Paul  II  restored  the  Univer- 
sity of  Huesca  in  1464,  he  gave  it  Toulouse,  Mont- 
pellier, and  Lerida  as  models.  Finally,  in  the  bull  of 
Sixtus  IV,  in  favor  of  the  University  of  Saragossa 
(1474),  it  is  said  that  the  studium  generate  would  be 

1  Vicente  de  la  Fuente,  op.  cit.,  t.  i,  p.  304. 

2  Denifle,  op.  cit.,  p.  474.  The  stipendia,  the  appointments,  natu- 
rally played  a  great  part  in  the  prosperity  of  universities.  An 
inscription,  which  may  still  be  seen  ut  Salamanca,  says  of  the  uni- 
versity of  that  city:  ilia  deficientibus  stipendiis  de/ecit, — until  it 
was  reorganized  by  Alfonso  X. 


THE  RISE   OF  THE   UNIVERSITIES  66 

founded  there  ad  instar  of  tlie  Universities  of  Paris 
and  of  Lerida. 

It  was  from  France,  again,  that  Portugal  borrowed 
in  part  the  first  elements  of  university  organization. 
At  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century,  King  Alfonso 
III,  who  had  travelled  in  Prance,  brought  back  with 
him  two  scholars,  Domingos  Jardo,  a  Portuguese, 
but  a  doctor  of  canon  law  in  the  University  of  Paris, 
and  Aymeric  d'Hebrard,  a  nobleman  of  Quercy.^  It 
was  with  the  aid  of  these  two  advisers  that  the  kings 
of  Portugal  proceeded  to  the  establishment  of  their 
national  university,  installed  successively  at  Lisbon 
and  at  Coimbra. 

Next  to  Paris,  the  University  of  Bologna  had  most 
imitators.  The  universities  of  Italy,  that  of  Naples 
excepted,  sprang  directly  or  indirectly  from  Bologna 
That  of  Padua,  in  1222,  was  founded  by  a  colony  of 
professors  from  Bologna ;  so  was  that  of  Sienna,  in 
the  fourteenth  century.  "The  intellectual  move-  \ 
ment  of  the  northeast  of  Italy,"  M.  Kenan  has  said, 
*'  is  altogether  connected  with  that  of  Padua.  Now 
the  Universities  of  Padua  and  Bologna  were  really 
only  one,  at  least  as  far  as  the  philosophical  and  medi- 
cal instruction  was  concerned.  The  same  professors 
migrated  nearly  every  year  from  one  to  the  other,  to 
obtain  an  increase  of  their  salaries."  ^  Bologna,  how^ 
ever,  extended  its  influence  to  foreign  countries :  in 

1  Aymeric  d'Hebrard  was  the  preceptor  of  the  son  of  Alfonso 
III,  Denis  the  Liberal,  who  founded  the  University  of  Lisbon. 
From  1130  it  was  customary  at  Coimbra  to  send  certain  canons  of 
the  Order  of  St.  Augustine  to  study  in  France. 

2  Renan,  Averro^s  et  I'Averroisme,  1852,  p.  258. 


66  ABELARD 

[France,  the  Universities  of  Montpellier  and  Gre- 
[noble  were  copied  after  Bologna.  It  was  Placentin, 
a  Bolognese,  who  introduced  the  study  of  law  at 
Montpellier.^ 

'     The  multiplication  of  universities  would  have  been 
impossible  without  these  mutual  loans  and  exchanges. 
Throughout  the  entire  Middle  Ages,  there  was  a  per- 
petual passing  to  and  fro  of  masters  and  students 
^rom  one  country  to  another,  —  from  France  to  Eng- 
land, from  Italy  to  France,  and  back  again,  —  or,  in 
the  same  country,  going  in  turn   from   one   city  to 
janother  city,  from  one  school  to  another  school.     I 
may  cite  some  examples.     Peter  Lombard,  the  Master  i 
of  the  Sentences,  as  he  is  called,  the  uncontested  chief 
of  theological  instruction  in  the  Middle  Ages,  whose 
classic  work  enjoyed  so  great  an  authority  that,  ac- 
cording  to  Crevier,  —  who  had  counted  them,  —  it  has  V 
had  244  commentators  —  almost  as  many  as  Aristotle ; 
Peter    Lombard    studied    successively    at   Bologna,  ; 
Rheims,  and  Paris.     The  successor  of  Abelard,  but  { 
more  circumspect  than  he  in  the  application  of  dia- 
lectics to  theology,  Peter  Lombard  did  not  wholly , 
escape  the  criticism  of  the  orthodox,  —  of  theologians 
who  were  alarmed  by  the  freedom  of  his  logic,  and 
who  claimed  that  the  subtleties  of  dialectics  weve\ 
"  like  a  fine  and  minute  dust,  blinding  the  eyes  of  \ 
those  who  stir  it  up,'"*    Twenty-six  erroneous  arti-  i 
cles  are  counted  up  in  his  doctrines,  —  making  him  ' 
quite    a  "heretic."      He    maintained    that    "Jesus 
Christ,  in  so  far  as  he  was  man,  was  nothing,"  —  a 
proposition  from  which  sprang  the  sect  of  "^ihilists.j^^ 
1  See  Part  III,  chap.  iii.  *  Crevier,  op.  cii. 


THE  RISE   OF  THE  UNIVERSITIES  67 

One  was  a  "  nihilist "  on  easy  terms  in  those  days. 
So,  too,  a  writer  justly  celebrated  in  the  twelfth 
century,  Peter  of  Blois,  first  studied  letters  and  phi- 
losophy at  Tours  and  at  Paris,  then  went  to  Bologna, 
about  1160,  to  follow  the  lectures  on  law,  and  after- 
wards returned  to  Paris  to  take  up  theological 
studies.  He  finally  ended  his  career  in  England.^ 
This  example  is  particularly  striking,  because  it  shows 
how,  before  the  foundation  of  universities  which 
later  reunited  in  the  same  city  and  in  one  centre 
all  sorts  of  studies,  a  man  eager  for  learning  was 
obliged  to  go  seeking,  from  city  to  city  and  in  special 
schools,  the  different  branches  of  human  knowl- 
edge. John  of  Salisbury  is  another  example  of  how 
these  learned  peregrinations  were  then  obligatory 
for  all  students.  Born  about  1100,  at  Salisbury,  in 
England,  we  have  found  him  in  Paris,  in  1136,  an 
enthusiastic  auditor  of  Abelard.  He  spent  not  less 
than  twelve  years  in  the  schools  of  France,  exercis- 
ing himself  in  theology,  under  the  direction  of  Robert 
of  Melun  (an  Englishman  who  was  teaching  at  I\Ie- 
lun),  in  grammar  with  William  of  Conches  (himself  a 
pupil  of  Bernard  of  Chartres),  and  in  mathematics  and 
rhetoric  under  other  masters.  He  taught  in  Paris 
about  1145 ;  but  he  afterwards  returned  to  England, 
where  he  was  for  some  time  attached  to  the  church  of 
Canterbury.  Then  he  travelled  in  Italy,  and  finally 
returned  to  France,  where  he  died,  Bishop  of  Chartres, 
in  1180. 

1  Peter  of  Blois  died  about  1198,  in  England,  where  he  had 
become  an  important  personage.  See  the  IJistoire  littiraire  de  la 
France,  t.  xv,  p.  341  et  seq. 


68  ABELARD 

The  beginnings  of  the  University  of  Cambridge 
show  plainly  how  the  displacements  and  migrations 
of  nomadic  professors  or  members  of  religious  orders, 
travelling  from  one  country  to  another,  scattered  the 
seed  of  science  on  fresh  soil.  Montalembert  thus 
describes  the  origin  of  Cambridge  :  "  Four  Norman 
monks,  transplanted  from  Saint  Evroul,  in  France,  to 
Croyland,  in  England,  with  the  eloquent  and  learned 
Abbot  Joffride,  formerly  professor  at  Orleans,  con- 
cluded to  open  a  public  course  of  lectures  in  a 
granary  which  they  hired  near  the  gate  of  the  town 
of  Cambridge.  But,  as  neither  this  granary  nor  other 
still  larger  edifices  were  able  to  contain  the  throng 
of  men  and  women  who  soon  hastened  to  listen  to 
them,  the  Inonks  of  Croyland  conceived  the  notion 
of  organizing  the  instruction  given  by  the  professors, 
on  the  plan  of  the  monastic  exercises  of  the  order. 
Thus,  Brother  Odo  was  deputed  to  teach  grammar, 
according  to  Priscian  and  Remy,  at  daybreak ;  at 
Prime,  Brother  Terric  taught  Aristotle's  logic  with 
the  comments  of  Porphyry  and  Averroes ;  at  Tierce, 
Brother  William,  the  rhetoric  of  Cicero  and  Quin- 
tilian ;  wliile,  on  every  holiday,  Brother  Gislebert, 
the  most  learned  member  of  the  community,  ex- 
plained the  Sacred  Scriptures  to  the  priests  and  to 
the  scholars,  and,  moreover,  preached  every  Sunday 
to  the  people,  in  spite  of  his  unfamiliarity  with  the 
English  language.  Such  was  the  beginning  of  the 
University  of  Cambridge,  —  a  feeble  rivulet,  which 
soon  became,  according  to  the  expression  of  a  French 
monk,  Peter  of  Blois,  a  great  stream  which  fertilized 
all  England." ' 

1  De  Montalembert,  Lea  Moines  d' Occident,  t.  vii,  p.  650. 


THE  RISE   OF  THE  UNIVERSITIES  69 

Even  after  the  universities  had  been  constituted, 
the  international  exchange  of  students  and  of  mas-  j 
ters  did  not  cease.     The  papacy,  which  protected  the  ! 
universities   because   it  counted   on  directing  them,  j 
aided  by  its  universal  domination  in  facilitating  their  ', 
relations  and  the  reciprocal  services  they  rendered   j 
to  each  other.      It  was  in  vain  that  certain  cities,    j 
through  self-love  and  local  interests,  sought  to  iso-   i 
late  their  universities  :  Florence,  for  example,  prohib— *- 
ited  Florentines  to  study  anywhere  but  at  Florence, 
under  penalty  of   heavy  fines.      A  current  stronger 
than  national  rivalry  reunited  all  the  universities  of 
Europe  in  a  sort  of  federation.     There  was  then,  irTj 
spite  of  incessant  wars,  in  spite  of  invasions,  in  spite  | 
of  the  hatreds  between  peoples,  there  was  above  all  j 
the  frontiers  a  European  alliance  of  all  the  superior 
schools,  a  something  like  the  United  States  of  uni-j 
versities.     And  in  this  assemblage  of  almost  similai^- 
schools,  it  was  Paris  that  held  the  leadership.     Even 
at  Bologna,  the  college  of  theology,  annexed  to  the 
university  by  Pope  Innocent  IV  in  1362,  was  formed 
on   the   model   of  the   theological   faculty  of   Paris. 
Parisian  professors  were   called  to  the  German  uni- 
versities of  the  fourteenth  century.     The  first  rector 
of  the  University  of  Heidelberg,  Marsilius  de  Inghen, 
had  been  rector  of  the  University  of  Paris.     It  was 
not  a  pious  illusion,  it  was  truth  itself,  which  inspired 
Duboulay,  when,  in  the  title  of  his  book,  he  described 
most  of  the  other  universities  as  daughters  of  the 
University  of  Paris :    quae,  ex  eailem  communi  matre 
excesserunt. 


Part  II 

THE   ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  EARLY 
UNIVERSITIES 


CHAPTER   I 

PRIVILEGES  OF  THE  UNR'ERSITIES 

The  university  privileges  a  derivation  from  the  privileges  con- 
ceded to  the  Catholic  clergy  —  Privileges  an  important  cause  of 
the  prosperity  of  the  early  universities  —  II.  The  first  university 
privilege  that  conferred  on  Bologna  by  Emperor  Frederick  I  in 
the  decree  Habita  (1158)  —  Exceptional  or  internal  jurisdiction 
of  universities  —  The  right  of  nontrahi  extra — III.  Exemption 
from  all  personal  taxes  and  contributions  and  from  military 
service  —  IV.  The  right  of  cessatio  —  Historical  examples  —  V. 
Other  minor  privileges  —  The  privileges  and  immunities  extended 
to  all  members  of  a  university. 


One  might  say  that  there  were  no  privileges,  prop- 
erly speaking,  in  the  Middle  Ages ;  privileges,  techni- 
cally speaking,  being  abrogations  of  the  common  law, 
and  common  law,  that  is  to  say,  a  uniform  rule  for 
all,  not  existing  at  that  period.  The  truth  is  that 
there  were  privileges  on  all  sides ;  privileges  for  the 
clergy,  privileges  for  the  nobility,  privileges  for 
the  communes  and  for  the  cities.  Every  class  of 
men,  every  community,  every  city,  aspired  to  live  a 
life  of  its  own,  to  obtain  a  relative  independence,  to 
have  its  special  system  of  jurisprudence.  Possessing 
the  favor  of  the  spiritual  sovereign  as  well  as  of  the 
temporal  ones,  the  universities  had  their  share  at 
once,  and  a  very  considerable  share,  of  exceptional 

73 


74  ABELARD 

immunities  and  franchises.     They  formed  little   re- 
publics,  states   within   the   state,   using,    and   some- 
times abusing,  the  very  rights  which  they  held  from 
kings  and  from  the  Holy  See,  to  enter  into  conflict 
with  kings  and  with  the  Holy  See.     Almost  exclu- 
sively ecclesiastical  at  the  outset,  —  for  the  majority 
of  their  members  belonged  to  the  clergy,  —  they  were 
naturally  admitted  to  a  participation  in  the  privileges 
1    already  enjoyed  by  the  religious  orders  and  the  mem- 
1    bers  of  the  Church  in  general.     ^The  whole  body  of 
the   Catholic  clergy,"  says  Gibbon,  '^was   exempted 
;    from   all   service,   private   or   public,   all    municipal 
I    offices,  and  all  personal  taxes  and  contributions  which 
I     pressed  on  their  fellow-citizens  with  intolerable  weight, 
I     and  the  duties  of  their  holy  profession  were  accepted 
at  a  full  discharge  of  their  obligations  to  the  repub- 
;    lie.'*     So  it  was  that  when  popes  or  kings  extended 
these  exemptions  to  the  rising  universities,  the  city 

, governments  took  no  umbrage  at  it. 

/"■"And  these  privileges,  granted  in  the  first  place  to 
semi-ecclesiastical  academic  corporations,  were  pre- 
served by  the  universities  as,  little  by  little,  they 
[were  secularized.  The  importance  of  higher  study 
justified  the  favors  which  had  originally  been  au- 
thorized by  religious  sentiment.  The  language  of 
the  Middle  Ages  affords  proof  of  this:  the  word 
clericus,  clerk,  at  first  signified  one  who  was  studying 
in  order  to  enter  the  ecclesiastical  state.  It  was 
afterward  applied  to  any  learned  or  educated  person. 
The  immunities,  likewise,  which  none  but  ecclesiastics 
had  previottsly  profited  by,  were  granted  in  the  twelfth 
and  thirteenth  centuries  to  all  whom  the  universities 
sheltered  under  their  patronage. 


PRIVILEGES   OF  THE   UNIVERSITIES  75 

It  is  to  be  remarked,  moreover,  that  as  a  favor 
accordecT  to  the  taste  for  study,  the  university  privi- 
leges of  the  Middle  Ages  were  not  altogether  a 
novelty.  "At  the  time  of  Vespasian,  certainly  not 
long  after,"  says  Laurie/  "immunities  were  granted. 
The  Medici  and  the  professors  of  liberal  arts,  who 
taught  in  the  Roman  capital  and  large  provincial 
towns,  were  exempted  from  imperial  taxes,  from 
service  in  war,  and  from  discharging  municipal 
duties,  except  when  they  were  desirous  to  do  so. 
These  privileges  were,  of  course,  extended  to  the 
University  of  Constantinople.  Constantine,  in  his 
edict  of  A.D.  321,  continues  and  confirms  past  privi- 
leges as  they  had  existed  in  all  parts  of  the  Empire 
(vide  Theod.  Code,  iii,  tit.  iii,  I)," 

That  the  enjoyment  of  their  privileges,  apostolic  \ 
or  royal,  was  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  the  prosperity 
of  the  universities,  is  demonstrated  by  every  page  of 
their   history.      More   than   once   the   University   of 
Paris,  obliged  to  defend  its   threatened  exemptions, 
has  forcibly  demonstrated,  in  its  representations  to 
the  kings  of  France,  that  it  could  not  be  divested  of    j 
them  without  risk  of  driving  away  its  students,  or  at    ' 
least  sensibly  diminishing  their  number.     Who  can  J 
tell  the  number  of  masters  and  of  pupils  whose  de- 
sire for  study  has  been  encouraged  by  the  prospect 
of  enjoying  the   favors  granted  to  members  of  the 
universities  ?      This   will    be    better    understood   by 
those  who  examine  with  me  the  nature  and   impor- 
tance of  those  privileges. 

1  Laurie,  op.  cit.,  p.  200.  The  Theodosian  Code  justified  the  privi- 
leges accorded  to  the  universities  hy  these  words:  "Quo  facilius 
liberalibus  studiis  et  artibus  multos  iustituant." 


76  ABELARD 

11 

The  first  example  of  the  privileges  granted  to  uni- 
versities must  be  sought  for  in  the  imperial  consti- 
tution, the  Hahita,  promulgated  in  1158,  at  the  Diet 
of  Roncaglia,  by  Frederick  Barbarossa,  to  the  masters 
and  students  of  Bologna.^  "  We  will,"  said  the  Em- 
peror of  Germany  in  this  memorable  document,  "  that 
the  students,  and  above  all,  the  professors  of  divine 
and  sacred  laws,  may  be  able  to  establish  themselves 
and  dwell  in  entire  security  in  the  cities  where  the 
study  of  letters  is  practised.  It  is  fitting  that  we 
should  shelter  them  from  all  harm.  Who  would 
not  have  compassion  on  these  men  who  exile  them- 
selves through  love  of  learning,  who  expose  them- 
selves to  a  thousand  dangers,  and  who,  far  from 
their  kindred  and  their  families,  remain  defenceless 
among  persons  who  are  sometimes  of  the  vilest  ? " 
And,  in  consequence,  Frederick  I  decreed  in  the  first 
place  that  any  person  against  whom  a  student  had 
to  bring  a  suit,  whether  it  were  to  demand  the  pun- 
ishment of  an  offence  or  to  obtain  the  payment  of 
a  debt,  this  person,  though  he  might  dwell  in  a  dis- 
tant province,  should  be  tried  in  the  place  where 
the  student  resided;  that  is  to  say,  in  Bologna. 
Afterwards  —  and  this  is  the  most  important  point, 
for  it  contains  the  principle  of  an  internal  or  at 
any  rate  exceptional,  jurisdiction  granted  to  the 
members  of  the  university  —  the  Emperor  said :  "  If 
any  person,  for  any  cause  whatsoever,  wishes  to  bring 

1  See  the  complete  text  of  the  Ilabita  of  Frederick  I,  in  Coppi's 
work,  already  cited,  p.  73. 


PRIVILEGES   OF  THE   UNIVEKSITIES  77 

an  action  against  students,  lie  must  cite  them,  accord- 
ing to  their  own  choice,  before  their  Professor  or 
before  the  Bishop  of  the  city."  Thus,  on  one  hand, 
Frederick  I  granted  Bolognese  students,  when  they 
were  plaintiffs,  the  right  to  summon  their  adversa- 
ries for  judgment  to  the  place  of  their  university 
residence;  and,  on  the  other,  when  they  were  ac- 
cused, he  freed  them  from  the  ordinary  jurisdiction 
by  leaving  them  their  choice  between  an  ecclesiastic 
or  a  university  tribunal.^  These  two  privileges,  with 
some  variations,  were  successively  granted,  either  by 
civil  governments  or  pontifical  authority,  to  the  dif- 
ferent universities,  and,  of  course,  to  the  professors 
as  well  as  to  the  students. 

It  was  thus  that,  about  1198,  a  decree  of  Pope 
Celestine  III  decided  that,  for  clerics  residing  in 
Paris,  all  suits  relative  to  money  matters  should  be 
tried  before  ecclesiastical  and  not  before  secular 
judges.  "  Bishops  and  clerics,"  said  the  pope,  "  have 
their  own  judges  in  fact,  and  they  have  nothing  in 
common  with  the  laws  of  the  state."  ^  And  before 
this,  about  1170,  Alexander  III,  because  of  material 
injuries  and  also  of  a  sentence  of  excommunication  of 
which  the  students  of  Kheims  complained,  hastened 

^  The  Latin  text  says :  "...  coram  domino  aut  marfistro  sito,  vel 
ipsius  civitatis  episcopo."  The  word  domino  may  seem  equivocal. 
It  has  heen  variously  interpreted.  Some  have  sought  to  translate 
it  by  seif/neur,  lord;  but  Crevier,  Savigny,  and  the  majority  of 
commentators  suppose  with  reason  that  dominns  simply  means 
professor,  and  that  mar/ister  was  added  so  as  to  mark  more  clearly 
the  sense  of  dominus.  At  Bologna  the  professors  were  often  styled 
domini  legnm. 

2  "  .  .  .  ncc  quidqnam,  est  eis  pnblicis  commune  cum  legibus  " 
{Chartularium  Univ.  Paris.,  t.  i,  p.  12). 


78  ABELARD 

to  recognize  the  justice  of  their  position  "when 
they  claim  that  no  one  has  the  right  to  use  violence 
toward  them,  nor  to  dare  pronounce  against  them  an 
ecclesiastical  sentence,  until  it  shall  please  them  to 
appear  judicially  before  their  professors."^  The  popes 
were  simply  taking  the  course  natural  to  them  when 
they  sought  to  extend  the  jurisdiction  of  ecclesiastical 
tribunals.  But,  which  is  more  remarkable,  the  kings 
themselves,  confirming  the  decisions  of  the  sovereign 
pontiffs  in  every  point,  did  not  hesitate  to  limit  the 
secular  authorities  in  everything  that  concerned  the 
universities.  In  1200,  in  consequence  of  a  quarrel 
that  arose  between  the  students  and  the  citizens,  in 
which  the  Provost  of  Paris  had  put  himself  at  the 
head  of  the  armed  populace,  and  a  student  had  been 
slain,  Philip  Augustus  took  sides  energetically  with 
the  students.  In  the  first  place,  he  granted  them  a 
signal  reparation.  The  provost  was  condemned  to 
perpetual  imprisonment,  unless  he  preferred  to  submit 
to  the  ordeal  by  water,  with  the  condition  that  if  he 
"succumbed  under  it  he  should  be  hanged.  But  for 
the  future,  in  his  ordinance  of  1200,  which  may  be 
considered  the  first  official  charter  of  the  University 
of  Paris,  the  king  decreed  that  the  students  should 
be  tried  only  by  the  ecclesiastical  tribunal,  that  is  to 
say,  by  the  Episcopal  Court  of  Paris.  No  student, 
no  matter  who  he  might  be,  could  be  arrested  by  an 
ordinary  judge,  unless  there  were  urgent  necessity 
for  it,  and  with  the  proviso  that  he  should  instantly 
be  remitted  into  the  hands  of  the  ecclesiastical  judge. 

1  "  . . .  donpa  QQrdm  magistro  tuo  vclint  justitia  stare  {Ibid.,  p.  5, 
ct  seq.). 


PRIVILEGES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITIES  79 

And  as  to  the  chief  of  the  students  (capitale  scJio- 
larium),  "our  courts,"  said  the  king,  "cannot  lay 
hands  upon  him  for  any  crime  whatever  "  ;  ^  this  was 
to  proclaim,  before  the  ordinary  court  of  the  provost 
of  Paris,  the  almost  absolute  inviolability  of  the 
members  of  the  university. 

At  Padua,  in  1262,  a  law  provided  that  the  Podesta 
could  not  interfere  in  the  brawls  that  occurred  among 
the  students,  unless,  at  the  end  of  two  days,  the  affair 
had  not  been  settled  by  the  rector  and  professors.^ 
It  is  to  be  noted  that  in  Italy  the  right  of  internaT] 
oi-  university  jurisdiction  was  the  rule  generally  fol-fl 
lowed  in  granting  privileges,  while  in  France  it  waa' 
the  right  of  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  that  was  mosul 
often  granted.  _j3 

There  were,  moreover,  in  Italy,  from  one  university 
to  another,  and  especially  from  century  to  century, 
considerable  alterations  in  the  judicial  power  of 
the  university  officers.  The  professors  and  rectors 
grew  weary  of  exercising  the  functions  of  a  criminal 
court,  in  which  their  professorial  authority  might  be 
weakened;  they  preferred  to  retain  civil  jurisdiction 
only.  At  Verceil,  for  example,  criminal  matters  were 
exclusively  roinittod  to  the  city  magistrates.  At 
Rome,  foreign  students  might  choose  as  their  judges 
either  tlie  professors,  the  cardinal  vicar,  or  the  rector 
of  the  university.     At  Naples,  the  criminal  jurisdic- 

1  Chartularium  Univ.  Paris.,  t.  i,  p.  59, "...  In  capitale  Parisi- 
ensium  scholarium  pro  nullo  forij'acto  justitia  nostra  manum 
mittet." 

2  Coppi,  op.  cit.,  p.  171.  The  Podesta  was  an  imperial  magistrate 
who  had  beeu  established  in  place  of  a  consul  by  Frederick  I, 
after  his  victories  in  Italy. 


80  ABELARD 

tion  fell  to  a  magistrate  appointed  by  the  king,  who 
was  styled  the  justice  (justitim'ius).  Civil  suits  were 
brought  either  before  the  justice,  the  professor,  or 
the  archbishop,  at  the  choice  of  the  contending  par- 
ties. At  Turin,  the  rector  took  part  in  the  decision, 
even  in  the  criminal  cases  transferred  to  the  com- 
munal magistrates. 

Certain  details  are  still  necessary  in  order  to  clear 
up,  in  the  midst  of  the  confusion  created  in  the  Middle 
Ages  by  the  multiplicity  of  jurisdictions  of  every  sort, 
the  obscure  and  complex  question  of  the  privileges  of 
the  universities  in  this  matter.  When  Gregory  IX, 
in  1233,  confirmed  the  foundation  of  the  University 
of  Toulouse,  he  formally  prohibited  that  "either 
masters  or  scholars,  either  clerics  or  their  domestics 
(servientes  eorum),  if  they  became  guilty  of  any  mis- 
deed, should  be  judged  by  a  layman." '  He  decreed, 
moreover,  that  laymen  should  be  bound  to  appear 
before  the  ecclesiastical  judges  in  any  suits  whatever 
that  might  be  brought  against  them  by  the  students. 
Orleans,  Poitiers,  Caen,  and  Bordeaux,  whose  univer- 
sities were  founded  on  the  model  of  that  of  Toulouse, 
obtained  the  same  privileges  from  the  popes. 

In  the  statutes  given  to  the  Medical  Faculty  of 
Montpellier,  in  1220,  by  the  Legate  of  the  Holy  See 
(which  statutes  were  confirmed  in  1258  by  Alexan- 
der IV),  we  read  as  follows:  *'The  Bishop  of  Mague- 
lonne,  after  associating  with  himself  as  auxiliaries  one 
of  the  oldest  masters,  and  two  other  masters  chosen 
from  among  those  who  are  most  discreet  and  honor- 
able  {(iiscretiores  et  landabiliores)  should,  in  concert 

1  M.  Fournier,  op.  cit.,  t.  i,  p.  441. 


PRIVILEGES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITIES  81 

with  these  auxiliaries,  elect  a  master,  either  from 
among  these  three  auxiliaries  or  from  the  other  mas- 
ters, who  shall  administer  justice,  both  to  the  masters 
and  scholars  and  to  those  who  shall  bring  suits  against 
masters  and  scholars."  ^  These  regulations  applied 
to  civil  suits  only  ;  the  Bishop  of  Maguelonne  alone 
took  cognizance  of  criminal  matters. 

As  may  be  seen,  there  were  numerous  variations 
and  a  real  complication  in  the  rules  established  for 
the  purpose  of  giving  the  universities  an  exceptional 
position  before  the  law.  While  at  Montpellier  the_ 
members  of  the  university  were  judged  in  civil  ques- 
tions by  a  university  professor,  at  Paris  similar  mat- 
ters came  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  provost, 
constituted  as  "guardian  of  privileges."  While  in 
Italy  criminal  suits  were  usually  referred  to  the 
municipal  magistrates,  in  France  they  were  brought 
before  the  ecclesiastical  tribunals.  So,  too,  trials 
relating  to  benefices  held  by  a  member  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Paris  were  tried,  at  his  choice,  before 
the  Bishops  of  Beauvais,  of  Meaux,  or  of  Senlis.-^ 
While  admitting  that  these  exceptional  jurisdictions 
conferred  an  incontestable  advantage  on  both  masters 
and  scholars,  it  must  also  be  recognized  that  the 
Church  profited  by  them,  since  she  substituted  her 
own  courts  for  the  seciilar  ones  by  imposing  ecclesi- 
astical jurisdiction  even  on  laymen  who  brought  suits 
against  the  members  of  the  universities.  The  rising 
universities  were  not,  to  tell  the  truth,  anything  more 

1  M.  Fournier,  op.  cit.,  t.  ii,  p.  5. 

2  This  was  established  by  a  bull  of  Clement  V  iu  1358.     See 
Crevier,  op.  cit.,  t.  ii,  p.  209. 


82  ABELARD 

than  dismembered  parts  of  tlie  ecclesiastical  body; 
and  it  was  only  very  gradually  tliat  they  broke  the 
filial  bonds  which  united  them  to  the  Church,  At 
Paris,  for  example,  Parliament  little  by  little  ab- 
sorbed the  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction.^ 

But  what  the  universities  preserved  to  the  end  was 
the  special  right  conceded  by  Frederick  I  to  the 
Bolognese,  which  at  Paris  was  called  the  right  of  non 
train  extra,  which  the  historians  of  the  Parisian  Uni- 
versity name  also  the  committimus,  and  which  the 
kings  of  France  designated  in  their  letters-patent  by 
the  strange  expression  du  droit  de  garde  gardienne.^ 
This  consisted,  as  I  have  already  said,  in  the  right 
of  the  members  of  the  university,  whether  as  defend- 
ants or  as  plaintiffs,  to  have  their  cases  tried  at  tlieir 
place  of  residence.  The  University  of  Poitiers  thus 
justified  this  privilege  in  1674:  "The  masters  and 
students  could  not  attend  to  their  suits  or  prosecute 
them,  not,  at  any  rate,  without  abandoning  their 
employments,  functions,  and  studies,  if  they  were 
obliged  to  bring  them  anywhere  except  before  the 
judges  of  the  aforesaid  Poitiers."^ 

An  example  will  make  the  importance  of  this 
privilege  better  understood.  In  1358,  the  valets  of 
the  Bishop  of  Lisieux  had  stolen  a  horse  from  some 
of  the   students   of  the   University  of  Paris.     The 

1  In  1446  Charles  VII  gave  the  Parliament  of  Paris  the  right  of 
judging  the  canaes,  quarrels,  and  business  matters  of  the  university 
and  its  members. 

2  By  these  words,  garde  gardienne,  the  king  signified  that  he 
took  the  universities  under  his  special  protection.  Oardienne  is 
merely  a  superfluous  word  used  to  intensify  the  sense  of  garde. 

*  Privileges  de  I' University  de  Poitiers,  p.  27. 


PKIVILEGES  OF  THE   UNIVERSITIES  83 

University  determined  to  cite  the  said  bishop  before 
the  Provost  of  Paris  in  his  chatelet  (formerly  the 
name  of  a  court  of  justice  in  Paris).  The  bishop  at 
first  refused  to  come ;  but  the  University  having  de- 
cided to  make  a  direct  appeal  to  the  king,  the  bishop, 
"  in  spite  of  a  serious  infirmity  by  which  he  was 
afflicted,"  complied  with  the  injunction  to  repair  to 
Paris.^ 

By  the  right  of  garde  gardienne,  therefore,  the 
universities  could  withdraw  an  adverse  party  from 
his 'natural  judges.  This  was  assuredly  a  privilege 
which  had  its  inequitable  side,  since,  for  example,  it 
made  it  possible  that  a  person  living  at  the  extremity 
of  the  kingdom  might  be  summoned  to  Paris.  Hence, 
in  order  to  prevent  abuses,  it  became  necessary  to 
limit  the  right,  and  to  determine  the  distance  beyond 
which  one  was  no  longer  amenable  to  the  courts  of 
Paris,  to  two,  or  four,  or  six  days'  journey  on  horse- 
back.'' It  must  be  admitted,  on  the  other  hand,  that 
if  this  was  a  very  considerable  prerogative  for  the 
universities,  it  was  partly  justified  in  a  time  when 
local  justice,  administered  in  the  name  of  the  seigneur 
by  the  provost  or  the  bailiff,  was  ignorant  and  often 
arbitrary,  and  that  there  was  every  advantage  in  sub- 
stituting for  it  the  regularly  administered  justice  of 
great  cities. 

1  Bimbenet,  op.  cit.,  p.  131. 

2  An  edict  of  1722  again  confirmed  the  privilege  I  speak  of,  to 
the  University  of  Paris. 


84  ABELARD 

III 

Taxes  in  the  Middle  Ages  were  laid  on  none  but 
j  commoners  and  peasants.  The  nobility  and  the  clergy 
i  were  exempt  from  them.  Hence,  to  free  masters  and 
;  students  from  all  dues  to  the  State  and  all  municipal 
taxes,  was  simply  to  extend  to  them  the  privileges  of 
the  nobility  and  the  clergy.  In  Italy,  as  in  France 
and  Spain,  the  exemption  from  fiscal  charges  was 
complete.  All  the  statutes  of  the  Italian  universities 
formally  recognized  this  privilege,  says  Coppi.*  "  The 
privileges  of  the  University  of  Poitiers  said  that  all 
members  of  the  University  must  be  held  free,  ac- 
quitted, exempt  from  all  tollage,  texes,  duties,  loans, 
/Subsidies,  and  other  assessments."  The  universities, 
in  fact,  were  not  merely  dispensed  from  the  regular 
imposts ;  they  were  so  likewise  from  the  extraordi- 
nary assessments  which  the  depletion  of  the  treasury 
^  frgquently  obliged  the  kings  to  lay  upon  tlie  tax-payers. 
In  1440,  King  Charles  VII,  in  order  to  meet  the  ex- 
penses of  the  war,  had  laid  a  tax  on  wine  throughout 
the  kingdom  at  the  rate  of  twenty  sous  per  cask ; 
but  on  the  complaint  of  the  University  of  Orleans, 
he  finally  dispensed  the  students  of  that  city  from 
it,  saying  that  would  be  "exempted  from  all  tax  on 
all  the  wine  they  had  brought  thither  for  drinking 
and  other  necessities."  "^  Not  long  afterwards  we  see 
Louis  XII,  and  a  little  later  Francis  I,  exempting 
the  masters  and  students  of  the  University  of  Poi- 
tiers from  any  participation  in  the  impost  of  four 
thousand  livres,  Avhich  he  had  inflicted  upon  the  in- 

^  Coppi,  op.  cit.,  p.  176.  *  Bimbenet,  op.  cit.,  p.  84. 


PRIVILEGES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITIES  85 

habitants  of  the  city  of  Poitiers,  and  also  from  a 
contribution  established  for  the  purpose  of  paying 
the  hire  of  three  hundred  men  of  war. 

What  are  nowadays  called  town  dues  (octroi)  did 
not  exist  for  the  members  of  universities ;  they  had  i 
the  right  to  bring  into  the  cities  which  they  inhabited  j 
all  sorts  of  provisions  both  for  themselves  and  for 
their  families.  At  Padua,  in  1551,  they  were  grante^i  -i 
exemption  from  all  duties  on  wine  —  an  event  which 
the  .students  celebrated,  the  chroniclers  say,  by  mag- 
nificent banquets  in  honor  of  Bacchus.  At  Orleans 
the  members  of  the  University  claimed  exemption 
for  all  articles  of  consumption  in  their  possession, 
even  for  those  which  they  sold  again.  In  1295, 
Philip  the  Fair  decreed  that  the  goods  of  the  mem- 
bers of  universities  could  not  be  taken  or  their 
revenues  attached  under  any  pretext.^  In  a  word, 
the  fiscal  privileges  of  the  universities  were  absolute, 
and  justified  this  article  of  the  statutes  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Padua :  "  Students  must  be  considered  as  citi- 
zens in  what  concerns  the  advantages,  but  not  in  that 
which  concerns  the  burdens  of  citizens."  ^  -^ 

Exempt  from  taxes,  the  university  was  also  exempt 
from  military  service.  And  this  exemption  extended 
not  merely  to  war,  but  to  the  obligation  of  serving  in  / 
the  city  militia  as  town  guards.  It  was  manifestly] 
desired,  through  a  high  estimate  of  the  superior 
importance  of  study,  which  was  possibly  not  exag- 
gerated, to  free  both  students  and  professors  from 

1  M.  Fournier,  t.  i,  p.  8. 

*  "  Scolares  computentur  civet  quantum  ad  comoda  et  non  ad 
incomoda." 


86  ABELARD 

all  duties  that  could  distract  them  from  intellectual 
labor.  The  letters-patent  of  the  kings  of  France 
constantly  reproduce  the  same  formula :  they  ordain 
that  all  members  of  the  university  shall  be  exempt 

1  from  all  patrolling  or  sentry  duties,  except  in  case  of 
imminent  peril.     As  this  somewhat  vague  expression 

\  of  "imminent  peril"  might  give  rise  to  different  inter- 
pretations, it  was  defined.  In  1577,  Henry  III  speci- 
fied for  Poitiers  that  there  would  be  imminent  peril 
"when  the  enemy's  army  should  be  within  five  leagues 
of  the  city  " ;  and  before  this,  in  1448,  Charles  VI 
decreed  for  Orleans  that  the  members  of  the  univer- 
sity were  not  to  take  up  arms  until  the  enemy  was 
ten  leagues  from  the  city. 

Similar  privileges  existed  in  Italy,  but,  as  it  seems, 
they  were  less  extensive  there.  Exemption  from  mili- 
tary service  was  accorded  only  to  the  highest  members 
of  the  university.     In  1264,  an  article  in  the  statutes 

/  of  the  University  of  Ferrara,  whose  title  was  "7>)e  his 
qui  non  ten^ntur  ire  in  exercitum,''  specified  that  the 

1  dispensation    was    granted    only   to   doctors   in  law, 

1  medicine,  and  the  liberal  arts. 

Like   all   university  privileges,  this   one  was  fre- 

/  quently  contested.  In  14G7,  Louis  XI  resolved  to 
enlist  all  able-bodied  men  in  Paris,  between  sixteen 
and  sixty  years  of  age,  including  the  members  of  the 
university.  The  rector  resisted,  by  calling  attention 
to  the  fact  that  the  profession  of  arms  was  incompat- 
ible with  that  of  study,  and  that  the   laws   of  the 

I  Church  exempted  the  university  from  military  ser- 
vice, and  left  it  no  weapon  but  prayer.  He  added 
another  reason  of  a  more  practical  kind :  namely,  that 


PRIVILEGES   OF  THE   UNIVERSITIES  87 

parents  would  thereafter  refuse  to  send  their  children 
to  Paris  if  the  obligation  to  bear  arms  was  imposed 
upon  them.  The  representations  of  the  rector  were 
effectual,  and  Louis  XI  contented  himself  with  re- 
quiring that  the  university  should  cause  a  mass  to 
be  celebrated  weekly  for  the  king.^  It  must  be  said, 
however,  to  the  honor  of  the  universities,  that  they 
volunteered  many  times  to  perform  military  duties. 
In  1356,  Paris  being  hard  pressed  by  the  English, 
the  university  decided  that  its  members  should  take 
up  arjus  for  the  defence  of  the  city  at  the  order  of 
the  rector.  So  at  Poitiers  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
insurrections  having  broken  out  in  the  environs,  the 
students  called  upon  the  chief  municipal  officers  and 
declared  that  five  hundred  or  a  thousand  of  them 
were  ready  to  arm  in  defence  of  order. 

IV 

One  of  the  most  astonishing  privileges  of  the  ancient  ] 
universities  was  the  power  they  had  to  suspend  their  i 
courses,  to  go  on  strike,  as  we  say  nowadays,  if  for 
any  reason,  they  were  dissatisfied.  This  is  wliat  was 
called  the  right  of  cessatio,  which  was  used  and  abusedi 
frequently.  Things  went  so  far  that  a  university) 
Avas  sometimes  seen  to  take  flight,  and  change  its 
l)lace  of  residence  on  its  own  exclusive  autliority :  thus, 
about  1320  the  University  of  Orleans,  vexed  at  the 
annoyances  to  Avhich  it  had  been  subjected  by  the 
citizens  of  the  town,  thought  it  well  to  move  to  Nevers, 
where,  for  that  matter,  it  was  very  ill  received.  The 
1  Crevier,  t.  iv,  p.  316. 


88  ABELARD 

inhabitants  of  Nevers  threw  the  rector's  chair  into 
the  Loire,  expressing  the  hope  that,  borne  by  the 
waters  of  the  stream,  and  "with  tlie  assistance  of 
the  devil,"  it  might  return  to  the  city  whence  it 
came.^ 

But,  without  proceeding  to  these  extremities,  other 
universities  were  accustomed  to   suspend   at   a  mo- 
ment's notice  all  their  exercises  until  satisfaction  had 
I    been  afforded  them.     In  a  bull  of  1231,  Gregory  IX 
I   thus  formulated  this  privilege :   "  If  an  injustice  is 
I   committed  towards  any  one  of  you,"  he  wrote  to  the 
masters  and  students  of  Paris,  "if  a  serious  injury 
'^     like  a  murder  or  a  wound  is  inflicted,  unless  justice 
•  is   rendered   you   within  fifteen   days,  you   are   per- 
\mitted  to  suspend  your  lectures  until  you  have  ob- 
tained complete  satisfaction."^    The  same  authoriza- 
tion was  given  in  case  a  member  of  the  university 
Were  arrested  and  unjustly  imprisoned. 

I  will  recall  briefly  the  circumstances  under  which 
this  extraordinary  right  was  granted  to  the  University 
of  Paris  by  the  pope.  A  students'  riot  had  occurred 
during  the  Carnival  of  1229.  Bands  of  half-intoxi- 
cated young  men  had  sacked  the  house  of  an  innkeeper 
and  wounded  several  persons.  The  queen-regent, 
Blanche,  ordered  the  Provost  of  Paris  to  punish  the 
guilty :  two  students  Avere  put  to  death,  "  one  of 
whom,"  says  Crevier,  "  was  a  Norman  and  the  other  a 
Fleming,  while  those  who  had  caused  the  disorder 
were  all  natives   of  Picardy."     The  university  took 

1  Bimbenet,  op.  cit.,  p.  88.  \ 

2  Chartiilarium  Univ.  Paris.,  t.  i,  p.  138,  "...  liceat  vobis  usque 
ad  sutis/artioneni  condifjnam  suspendere  lectiones." 


PRIVILEGES  OF  THE   UNIVERSITIES  89 

sides  Avith  its  pupils  and  suspended  all  exercise  of 
its  functions.  But  as  the  queen  was  in  no  haste  to 
allow  the  justice  of  its  remonstrances,  a  great  number 
of  the  professors  dispersed,  some  to  other  parts  of 
France,  and  others  to  foreign  countries,  until  not  a 
single  famous  master  remained  in  Paris.  The  bishop 
launched  excommunications  against  the  deserters  in 
vain.  The  pope  was  obliged  to  intervene  and  revoke 
the  ecclesiastical  censures  and  penalties,  and  the  king 
made  a  formal  apology  in  reparation  for  the  wrong 
inflicted  on  the  students,  before  order  was  re-estab- 
lished, and  the  university,  victorious  at  all  points, 
decided  to  resume  its  courses  after  an  interruption 
of  two  years.^ 

The  right  to  strike  thus  recognized  as  belonging 
to  the  universities  entailed  such  troublesome  conse- 
quences that  Pope  Alexander  IV  sought  to  modify 
it  by  his  bull  of  1255,  by  which  he  required  that  no 
suspension  of  courses  should  take  place  unless  each 
of  the  Faculties  consented  to  it  by  a  two-thirds  vote.* 
But  the  university  pointed  out  with  much  vigor  that 
the  right  of  cessatio  was  its  principal  defence,  "  the 
buckler  of  the  university,"  and  it  continued  to  make 
use  of  it. 

In  1267,  in  fact,  lectures  were  again  suspended  for 
three  months,  on  account  of  the  blows  and  wounds 
received  by  three  students.  It  Avas  not  merely  the 
scholastic  exercises  that  were  intermitted,  but  the 
sermons  also.  "In  1407,"  says  Crevier,  "Advent  and 
Lent  went  by  without  there  being  either  lectures  or 
sermi)i<s  in  Paris,  not  even  on  Christmas  or  Easter, 
1  Crevier,  t.  i,  p.  341.      2  Chartularium  Univ.  Paris.,  t.  i,  p.  273. 


90  ABELARD 

because  the  provost  had  caused  two  ill-conducted 
students  to  be  hanged."  ^  The  university  threatened 
to  leave  the  kingdom  and  establish  its  chairs  in  a 
foreign  country.  The  provost  was  obliged  to  go  in 
person  and  take  down  the  two  students  from  the 
gibbet,  kissing  them  on  the  mouth,  and  conducting 
their  obsequies  with  great  pomp. 

In  1453,  forty  students  were  imprisoned  in  the 
Ch§,telet;  they  were  released,  but  during  the  tri- 
umphal procession  which  followed  their  deliverance, 
a  collision  with  the  police  took  place.  A  master  of 
arts  was  killed  and  some  students  wounded.  The 
rector  nearly  lost  his  life.  The  next  day  the  cessatio 
was  decreed ;  and  in  order  to  bring  it  to  a  close,  Par- 
liament was  obliged  to  ordain  that  eight  archers,  or 
ushers,  should  make  the  amende  honorable  to  the 
university,  wearing  nothing  but  their  shirts,  and  car- 
rying lighted  torches.  The  man  who  had  threatened 
the  rector  had  his  hand  cut  off.' 

The  history  of  the  University  of  Paris  is  full  of 
these  peaceful  revolts,  which  ended  by  tiring  out  both 
the  royal  and  the  pontifical  authorities.  In  1499, 
the  university  took  offence  because  Louis  XII  wished 
to  correct  certain  abuses.  Placards  were  posted 
throughout  Paris,  announcing  a  new  cessatio,  but  it 
was  a  failure.  The  king,  in  fact,  conceded  nothing. 
He  went  through  Paris  at  the  head  of  his  military 
household,  armed  from  head  to  foot,  lance  in  rest; 
and  the  university  had  to  give  way.  This  was  the 
last  cessation.^ 

1  Crevier,  t.  iii,  p.  208.  »  Crevier,  t.  iv,  pp.  197-219. 

3  In  1432,  Pope  Pius  II  had  already  issued  a  bull  interdicting  the 
cessations. 


PRIVILEGES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITIES  91 

V 

I  have  by  no  means  exhausted  the  list  of  immu- 
nities granted  to  the  universities  of  the  Middle  Ages 
by  the  favor  of  princes  and  of  popes.  Besides  the 
important  rights  I  have  already  enumerated,  there 
were  numerous  petty  privileges,  some  of  which  I 
shall  indicate,  in  order  to  complete  the  picture. 

Of  the  University  of  Turin,  founded  in  1412,  his- 
torians relate  the  following  usages :  The  troops  of 
comedians  who  gave  representations  in  that  city  were 
obliged  to  send  eight  free  tickets  of  admission  to  the 
syndic  of  the  students.^  Every  liquor-dealer  was 
likewise  obliged  to  offer  a  bottle  of  brandy  and  a 
pound  of  preserves,  and  every  pastry  cook  a  cake,  on 
the  feast  of  the  Epiphany.  At  Orleans,  the  students 
of  the  university,  divided  into  four  "Nations,"  had 
the  right  to  send  twelve  of  their  number  —  that  is, 
three  from  each  Nation  —  gratuitously  to  the  theatre.* 
The  laws  of  the  period  protected  even  the  pleasures 
of  the  students,  and  Savigny  relates  that  at  Bologna 
the  Jews  were  compelled  to  offer  one  hundred  and 
four  livres  and  a  half  to  the  University  of  Law,  and 
seventy  livres  to  the  University  of  Arts,  for  the  fetes 
of  the  Carnival. 

Sometimes  the  privileges  were  conceded  to  a  frac- 
tion only  of  the  university !  Thus,  a  general  proirr" 
bition  forbade  the  students  to  carry  weapons.  The 
brawls  and  riots  which  the  ebullition  of  juvenile 
spirits  often  gave  rise  to,  justified  this  policy  only  too 
well.     The  popes  declared  in  their  bulls  that  students  . 

1  Coppi,  op.  cit.,  p.  185.  2  Bimbenet,  op.  cit.,  p.  111. 


92  ABELARD 

who  should  violate  this  rule  were  excommunicated 
ipso  facto}  And  yet  we  see  that  at  Orleans  students 
belonging  to  the  German  Nation  were  authorized  by- 
Henry  IV,  in  1600,  "  to  carry  sword,  dagger,  and 
j  pistols,  which  is,"  added  the  King  of  France,  "the 
I  true  mark  of  noble  birth."  It  is  to  be  remarked, 
moreover,  that  the  iiniversities  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
both  in  Italy  and  in  France,  students  of  German 
extraction  were  nearly  always  treated  with  particular 
favor.^ 

Further,  the  members  of  the  universities  enjoyed  a 
certain  number  of  immunities  of  a  specially  ecclesias- 
tical character.  Both  masters  and  students  had  a 
right  to  receive  the  revenues  accruing  from  their 
benefices  during  seven  years,  and  sometimes  during 
ten  years,  of  non-residence.  In  1331,  John  XXII 
permitted  any  ecclesiastic  who  desired  to  follow  the 
courses  of  theology  and  of  canon  law  at  Cahors  to 
abandon  his  cure  or  his  benefice  if  he  provided  a  sub- 
stitute accepted  by  his  bishop.  On  several  occasions 
the  popes  proclaimed  that  no  excommunication  could 
affect  the  heads  of  universities  without  a  special  edict 
from  the  Holy  See.' 

I     It  remains  to  be  noted  that  the  privileges  of  the 
'universities  were  not  conferred  on  masters  and  stu- 
dents only :  they  pertained  equally  to  all  those  who 
participated  in  any  degree  in  the  service  of  the  uni- 
(  versity  ;  to  the  inferior  agents  who  were  then  styled 

1  Crevier,  t.  i,  p.  353. 

2  "  At  the  University  of  Bologna,"  says  Coppi  {op.  cit.,  p.  158), 
"  the  German  '  Nation  '  was  the  most  privileged  of  all." 

«  Crevier,  t.  i,  pp.  290,  361,  etc. 


PRIVILEGES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITIES 

supposita,  to  subordinates,  beadles,  scribes,  registrars ; 
to  the  messengers  who  played  such  a  great  part  in 
the  universities  of  the  Middle  Ages ;  and,  finally,  to 
the  servants  and  domestics  (famulanti)  of  masters 
and  students.  The  enjoyment  of  privileges  extended 
even  to  the  tradesmen  who  furnished  books  and  paper 
to  the  students,  to  parchment  makers,  librarians, 
etc.  At  the  outset  all  librarians  enjoyed  the  various 
immunities  of  the  university:  librarians  were  rare 
in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries.  Later^ 
when  the  profession  increased  in  number,  the  privi- 
leged librarians  were  reduced  to  one  or  two  for  each 
university.  At  Orleans  things  went  so  far  that  in 
1521  a  demand  was  made,  though  in  vain,  that  the 
clock-maker  and  the  bell-ringer  of  the  university 
should  be  exempted  from  all  taxes  and  other  charges, 
as  well  as  the  rector  and  the  professors.  Naturally, 
there  were  abuses.  Many  called  themselves  students 
who  were  not  such,  seeking  to  usurp  a  title  which 
conferred  such  great  advantages. 

Each  universit}^,  then,  sheltered  under  its  protection 
a  considerable  number  of  persons,  and  it  need  not  be 
wondered  at  that  privileges  so  important  in  them- 
selves, and  so  widely  distributed,  should  have  been 
frequently  contested.  The  universities  had  to  struggle 
with  the  municipal  authorities,  who  could  not  but 
regard  with  jealousy  the  independence  of  these  scho- 
lastic societies,  autonomous  and  all-powerful.  They 
had  to  contend  also  with  the  inhabitants,  who,  although 
in  general  well-disposed  toward  the  universities  from 
which  they  derived  honor  and  profit,  sometimes  be- 
held with  displeasure  a  large  number  of  young  for-     i 


94  ABELARD 

r^eigners*   freed   from   all   tliose   financial    obligations 
j     which  weighed  upon  themselves  all  the  more  heavily 
because  they  were  not  shared  by  every  one. 

But  notwithstanding  the  complaints  arising  from 
private  interests  or  corporate  jealousies,  the  universi- 
ties maintained  their  privileged  position  to  the  end ; 
and  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  in  guarding  it  for 
them,  the  public  authorities  of  the  Middle  Ages  hon- 
^_Qred  themselves  and  testified  their  zeal  for  intellec- 

Etual  labor.  There  was,  on  the  part  of  kings  as  well  aa 
on  that  of  popes,  a  sort  of  conspiracy  in  favor  of  tha 
Uliiversities.  On  every  page  of  the  Ghartularium  ol 
each  of  them  may  be  found  documents  which  beaj 
witness  to  an  unceasing  solicitude  for  their  welfare 
It  is  Philip  the  Fair  Avho  decrees  that  the  student, 
if  arrested,  shall  be  treated  with  every  mark  of  re 
spect  while  in  prison,  and  even  released  on  bail.  It 
is  Innocent  III  who  enjoins  the  Bishop  of  Toulouse 
to  receive  poor  students  in  the  hospitals  of  the  city. 
and  who  takes  the  trouble  to  write  to  the  count,  the. 
consul,  and  the  people  of  Toulouse  to  thank  them  for 
their  good  will  toward  the  university.  It  is  Philip 
the  Fair,  once  more,  who  orders  the  inhabitants  and 
merchants  of  the  city  of  Orleans  to  sell  provisions 
and  let  houses  to  the  students  at  the  most  just  price. 
It  is  St.  Louis  who,  going  to  church  at  daybreak,  and 
receiving  on  his  head  the  contents  of  a  pot  which  an 
early-rising  student  was  emptying  out  of  a  window, 

1  It  appears  that,  especially  at  the  outset,  the  privileges  of  cer- 
tain universities  were  chiefly  reserved  for  forei^iicrs,  whom  it  was 
necessary  to  protect  against  tlie  possible  vexations  proceeding  from 
the  citizens,  the  inhabitants  of  the  city. 


PRIVILEGES   OF   THE   UNIVERSITIES  95 

instead  of  being  angered,  conferred  a  prebendarj^ship 
on  the  student  as  a  reward  for  getting  up  at  such  an 
early  hour  to  study. 

The  student  of  the  Middle  Ages  somewhat  resembled 
the  Roman  citizen  of  former  times,  who  made  himself 
respected  by  all  with  the  simple  words  :  Civis  Roma- 
nus  sum.  Strong  by  reason  of  the  concessions  made 
individually  to  each  of  its  members,  the  university 
found  another  source  of  power  in  the  fact  that  it  was 
an  organized  body,  administering  itself.  From  this 
point  of  view,  and  in  all  matters  Avhich  concerned  its 
general  interests,  the  University  of  Paris  claimed  to 
depend  on  no  one  but  the  king  or  the  pope,  according 
as  the  violations  it  had  to  complain  of  arose  from  the 
civil  or  the  ecclesiastical  power.  So,  too,  the  Univer- 
sity of  Padua  called  on  the  Venetian  Senate.  Every- 
where, in  a  word,  the  universities  were  freed  from 
the  control  of  the  local  authorities,  and  recognized  no 
other  sovereigns  than  the  head  of  the  Church  and 
the  head  of  the  State,  and  not  always  yielding  even 
to  them.  And  it  may  be  permissible  to  conclude  that 
possibly  they  maintained  their  prosperity  more  on 
account  of  their  privileges  than  by  the  attraction  of 
their  teaching. 


/ 


CHAPTER  II 
NATIONS  AND  FACULTIES 

I.  The  Nations  —  Public  character  of  lesson^  in  the  university 
schools — Great  gatherings  of  students — Natural  tendency  to 
union  between  the  students  of  the  same  country  —  Constitution 
of  the  Nations  as  free  self-governing  societies— The  Nations 
in  the  University  of  Paris  —  They  constitute  the  Faculty  of  Arts 
alone  —  Other  methods  of  organization  —  Advantages  and  dis- 
advantages of  the  distribution  into  Nations  —  II.  The  Faculties 

—  Original  meaning  of  the  word  —  Specialization  of  studies  — 
Growth  of  the  four  traditional  Faculties  in  the  University  of  Paris 

—  Faculty  of  Arts,  the  first  constituted  —  The  superior  Faculties : 
theology,  civil  and  canon  law,  medicine  —  The  "  colleges  "  of  Bo- 
logna —  The  four  Faculties  did  not  exist  at  all  universities. 

Among  the  characteristics  which  distinguish  a  uni- 
versity of  the  Middle  Ages,  making  it  something  new 
in  the  world  and  truly  original,  there  are  two  particu- 
larly important  ones,  which  will  form  the  subject  of 
this  chapter.  These  are,  on  the  one  hand,  the  fact 
that  the   university   courses   are    public ;  ^   that    the 

1  It  was  only  in  the  sixteenth  century  that  the  public  courses  of 
philosophy,  given  in  the  famous  Rue  du  Fouarre  at  Paris,  finally 
ceased,  and  that  the  colleges,  that  is  to  say,  private  schools,  com- 
pletely absorbed  the  instruction  of  the  Faculty  of  Arts.  Kamus,  tlie 
reformer  of  the  University  of  Paris,  complains  strongly  of  it;  he 
says  with  regret  that  instruction  in  philosophy  is  henceforth  to  be 
given  privately,  in  each  college;  "it  is  not  long  ago,"  he  adds, 
"that  the  last  public  lecturer  in  philosophy  died." — Avertisse- 
menis  sur  hi  reformation  de  I' University  de  Paris. 
96 


# 


NATIONS  AND  FACULTIES  97 

lectures  are  not  given  behind  closed  doors,  in  a  pri- 
vate school;  that  admittance  is  given  freely  to  all 
classes,  to  men  of  mature  years  as  well  as  to  youths, 
to  foreigners  as  well  as  natives.  And,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  fact  that  the  different  branches  of  human 
knowledge  are  already  divided,  separated  one  from 
another,  and  confided  to  special  professors.  To  the^ 
state  of  educational  chaos,  so  to  speak,  whose  previous 
existence  in  the  episcopal  or  monastic  schools  is  testi- 
fied to  by  the  confused  mingling  of  the  seven  liberal 
arts,  the  trivium  and  quadrivmm,  has  succeeded  the 
orderly  distribution  of  the  different  matters  to  be  / 
taught  and  studied,  the  differentiation  of  theology 
and  law,  of  medicine  and  of  arts.  It  is  true,  that 
under  arts  was  still  included  a  confused  medley  of 
studies  which  were  afterwards  to  constitute  the  inde- 
pendent categories  of  science  and  literature ;  and  no 
line  was  drawn  between  secondary  and  superior  In^ 
struction,  which  were  not  distinguished  into  two 
grades  until  a  later  time. 

"  Publicity "  and  "  specialization,"  then,  are  two 
characteristic  traits  of  early  university  organization ; 
and  with  each  of  them  essential  facts  are  connected, 
—  the  establishment  of  Nations  with  the  first,  and  the 
institution  of  Faculties  with  the  second.  ^ 

I 

In  essaying  to  delineate  university  life  at  Sala- 
manca during  the  Middle  Ages,  a  French  writer  thus 
expresses  himself:  "The  students  form  a  population 
apart  in  the  city,  having  its  customs,  manners,  its  dis- 


98  ABELARD 

trict  and  even  its  courts,  completely  distinct  from 
those  of  the  bourgeois  and  the  merchants.  On  a  sum- 
mer evening  you  see  the  students  going  about  in 
bands,  wearing  gowns  of  the  same  pattern ;  those  be- 
longing to  the  same  kingdoms  make  groups  together. 
These  are  the  haughty  Castilians  passing  by ;  young 
as  they  are,  they  hardly  know  what  it  is  to  laugh. 
But  what  a  contrast  yonder !  The  Andalusians  are 
singing  at  the  top  of  their  voices  as  they  walk.  They 
carry  guitars  and  tambourines,  and  are  followed  by  a 
crowd  of  urchins  who  fdl  the  street  with  their  cries. 
See  what  handsome  fellows  they  are  !  What  an  alert 
bearing !  And  what  a  costume !  They  have  torn 
their  gowns  on  purpose,  as  well  as  the  long,  black 
cloaks  which  they  wear  with  an  impudent  air.  They 
have  fixed  tliree  plumes  in  their  hats."  ^ 

What  the  imagination  of  this  author  has  seen  from 
afar  in  the  streets  of  Salamanca  in  the  Middle  Ages, 

Irnight  have  been  seen  everywhere  at  that  epoch.  In 
every  place  the  students,  thanks  to  the  university 
privileges,  formed  a  separate  caste,  as  it  were  a  scho- 
lastic city  thrown  into  the  permanent  city  and  often 
more  populous  than  it  was.  But  everywhere,  also, 
they  separated  into  distinct  groups  according  to  their 
nationalities,  and  preserved  the  manners  and  customs 
of  their  countries,  as  happens  still  in  the  universities 

(of  Germany  and  Switzerland. 

The  "Nations,"  therefore,  had  their  raison  d'etre  in 
the  universities  of  the  thirteenth  century,  in  the 
diverse  origins  of  the  students  who  were  attracted  to 

1  Revue  Internationale  de  Venseignement,  Paris,  1883,  article  de 
M.  Qrauz :  L' University  de  Salamanque  in  1875. 


NATIONS  AND  FACULTIES  99 

the  same  city,  not  only  from  all  provinces  of  one 
country,  but  from  foreign  lands  as  well,  by  the  reputa- 
tion of  the  schools  established  there.  Assuredly  there 
were  not  to  be  found  in  all  the  university  cities  groups 
of  pupils  as  large  as  those  brought  together  at  Paris 
or  Bologna  by  the  renown  of  Abelard  or  Irnerius. 
Italian  historians  speak  of  ten  thousand  students  in 
the  thirteenth  century,  and  of  fifteen  thousand  in  the 
fifteenth.^  We  have  seen  what  an  extraordinary 
number  of  auditors  thronged  the  lectures  of  Abelard 
at  Paris.  "  The  number  of  clerics,"  says  a  chronicler 
of  the  time,  "  had  come  to  surpass  that  of  the  laity," 
that  is  to  say,  of  the  ordinary  citizens.^  But  even  in 
the  least  important  cities  the  scholastic  population 
was  considerable ;  and  no  one  will  be  surprised  at  it 
who  reflects  that  studies  were  at  this  time  almost  ex-1 
clusively  concentrated  in  the  universities.  Nowadays  i 
young  men  who  study  are  scattered  throughout  all 
parts  of  their  country ;  each  city  has  its  colleges  and 
schools.  In  the  thirteenth  century  they  were  obliged 
to  meet  each  other  in  the  comparatively  few  cities 
which  possessed  universities.  For  want  of  books  they~ 
could  not  study  at  home,  but  were  obliged  to  go  to  a 
distance  to  follow  the  lectures  of  one  or  another  re- 
nowned professor.  Their  ardor  for  knowledge  made 
them  willingly  expatriate  themselves,  in  spite  of  all 
difficulties  and  obstacles.  Felix  Plater,  a  German_J 
who  studied  at  Montpellier  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
relates  that,  starting  from  Basel,  it  took  him  twenty 
days  to    reach   the    end  of   his    journey ;    that   his 

1  Coppi,  op.  cit.,  p.  117. 

*  Chartularium  Univ.  Paris.,  t.  i,  p.  20. 


100  ABELARD 

companions  and  himself  escaped  the  dangers  that 
threatened  them  only  by  chance.^  At  Montpellier  the 
average  number  of  students  was  at  least  a  thousand.* 
Bimbenet  reminds  us  that  the  chroniclers  of  the  time 
speak  of  five  thousand  students  at  Orleans  in  the 
fourteenth  century.  At  Poitiers,  in  the  days  of  its 
greatest  prosperity,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  some 
estimate  the  number  of  students  at  two  thousand, 
others  at  four  thousand.  In  1554,  four  thousand 
auditors  followed  the  lectures  in  law  given  by  Coras 
in  Toulouse. 

Some  exaggeration  may  doubtless  be  suspected  in 
these  somewhat  fabulous  figures.  It  is  none  the 
i  less  true  that,  at  least  in  the  great  universities,  enor- 
\mous  numbers  were  assembled,  comprising  scholars 
jof  all  ages,  conditions,  and  nationalities.  And  that 
in  these  scholastic  multitudes  the  students  from  each 
province  and  country  should  have  felt  naturally  drawn 
together,  and  sought  to  live  in  greater  intimacy,  to 
associate  with  each  other,  and  to  install  themselves 
in  the  same  houses  (hosjntia),  can  be  readily  under- 
stood. It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  a  part  of  these 
youths,  self-exiled  through  their  love  of  knowledge, 
were  poor,  and  that  they  were  often  confronted  with 
the  difficulties  of  making  a  living.  Moreover,  when 
the  police,  even  in  great  cities,  were  not  as  strictly 
regulated  as  they  are  to-day,  and  when  the  majority 
of  the  students  were  more  or  less  foreigners,  sepa- 

1  Felix  Plater,  a  celebrated  physician   (153G-1614) ;  he  taught 
for  fifty-four  years  at  Basel. 

2  See  the  Fetes  du  VI<"^  Centenaire  de  I'universiU  de  Montpellier, 
1891.    Discours  de  M.  Croiset,  p.  62. 


NATIONS  AND    FACULTIES  101 

rated  from  their  families,  and  isolated  by  the  diffi- 
culty of  communication  as  well  as  by  distance,  it 
was  entirely  natural  that  each  nationality  should 
seek  by  an  intimate  union  a  sort  of  leverage,  a 
material  and  moral  force,  which  might  enable  it  to 
protect  itself. 

These  were  precisely  the  reasons  by  which  t^e  ] 
kings  justified  the  privileges  granted  to  the  universi- 
ties. "We  believe,"  said  Philip  the  Fair  in  1312, 
"  that  it  is  right  to  have  a  great  respect  for  the 
labors,  the  vigils,  the  drudgery,  the  deprivations,  the 
pains  and  perils  encountered  by  the  students  in  order 
to  acquire  the  precious  pearl  of  science,  and  that  it  is 
just  to  consider  how  they  have  left  their  friends,  their 
relatives,  and  their  country,  how  they  have  abandoned  i 
their  goods  and  their  fortunes.  .  .  ."  ^  But  these  were 
also  the  reasons  which,  within  the  precincts  of  the 
privileged  universities,  determined  the  special  asso- 
ciations known  as  "  Nations."  "  We  are  here,"  said 
the  professors  and  students  of  the  University  of  Paris 
in  1231,  "  we  are  here  as  foreigners,  without  the 
support  of  relatives  or  friends,  exposed  each  day  to 
atrocious  insults  which  touch  even  our  persons."^ 

Let  us  now  examine,  in  the  history  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Paris,  under  what  form  the  "Nations7 
which  had  at  first  been  nothing  more  than  colonies 
of  masters  and  students  of  similar  origin,  organized 
themselves  into  veritable  corporations,  each  with  its 
relative  autonomy  and  its  distinct  leaders,  "consti- 
tuting," as  Laurie  says,  "free  self-governing  societies 
within  the  universities." 

1  Crevier,  t.  ii,  p.  140.  2  Crevier,  t.  i,  p.  420.  — ■ 


102  ABELARD 

The  precise  date  of  the  organization  at  Paris  of  the 
four  Nations  which  maintained  themselves  there  until 
the  latest  days  of  the  university  escapes  the  most 
minute  research.  Neither  for  the  Nations  nor  for 
the  Faculties  was  there  any  sudden  blossoming,  but 
rather  a  slow  evolution,  an  insensible  preparation  for 
a  definite  condition.  Already  at  the  close  of  the 
twelfth  century  there  is  mention  in  contemporary 
documents  of  the  various  provinces  of  the  school  of 
Paris.  The  Nations  are  mentioned  in  the  bulls  of 
Gregory  IX  (1231)  and  of  Innocent  IV  (1245).  In 
j^45,  they  already  elect  their  attendants,  the  beadles. 
I  In  1249,  the  existence  of  the  four  Nations  —  France, 
JPicardy,  Normandy,  and  England  —  is  proved  by 
their  quarrels  over  the  election  of  a  rector.*  In  1255, 
a  letter  addressed  to  the  pope  by  the  masters  and 
students  is  stamped  with  the  seal  of  the  four  Nations. 
In  12G6  there  were  new  discords,  a  new  university 
schism,  which,  like  the  ecclesiastical  schism  resulting 
in  two  popes,  ended  in  the  election  of  two  rectors, 
one  for  the  French  Nation,  and  one  for  the  otlier 
three.^ 

Without  quoting  further  from  important  documents, 
it  appears  from ,  tliose  I  have  cited  that  the  four  Na- 
tions, with   their   claims  and   prerogatives   and   pri- 

1  The  English  "  Nation  "  comprised  all  the  countries  of  tlie  nortli 
and  cast  whicli  were  actually  foreign  to  France.  In  the  fifteenth 
century,  the  uamo  "Englisli"  having  become  odious,  the  English 
Nation  was  rechristened  and  became  the  German  Nation. 

2  According  to  Denitle,  the  four  Nations  were  constituted  be- 
tween 1215  and  1222,  at  the  period  when  the  university,  then  in 
process  of  formation,  had  most  to  contend  with  from  the  chancellor 
and  chapter  of  Notre  Dame. 


NATIONS   ANI)  FACULTIES  103 

vate  seals,  were  constituted  in  the  first  half  of  the 
twelfth  century.  In  1250,  the  Faculties  of  Theology, 
Law,  and  Medicine  were  not  yet  organized  bodies ; 
they  were  not  detached  from  the  rest  of  the  uni- 
versity to  live  a  life  of  their  own.  At  this  epoctv^ 
therefore,  the  four  Nations  made  up  the  entire  uni- 
versity. Each  of  them  had  its  chief,  elected  from 
among  themselves,  who  was  called  the  procurator. 
This  title,  which  appears  for  the  first  time  in  1218, 
in  a  bull  of  Honprius  III,  was  preserved  during 
the  whole  existence  of  the  universities ;  and  there 
were  procurators  of  Nations  almost  everywhere,  in 
Italy,  Spain,  and  Germany.  The  four  Nations  joined, 
each  casting  an  equal  vote,  in  the  election  of  the  rec- 
tor, who  was  at  first  merely  the  chief  of  the  four  Na- 
tions. Each  of  them  deliberated  separately,  and  was 
represented  by  its  procurator  only  in  the  General  As- 
sembly ;  each  made  its  OAvn  regulations,  and  collected 
and  expended  its  own  revenues.  It  was  on  this  last 
account  that  each  Nation,  although  it  counted  only  as 
a  single  voice  in  the  common  deliberations  and  in  the 
election  of  the  rector,  desired  to  be  as  large  as  pos- 
sible ;  and  there  is  proof  that  there  was  wrangling  and 
pettifogging  between  Nation  and  Nation,  and  unfair 
advantage  taken  of  cases  of  doubtful  nationalities  in 
order  to  lay  claim  to  a  particular  student.^ 

Until  the  definitive  constitution  of  tlie  Faculties, 
that  is,  until  1270  or  1280,  the  four  Nations  included 

1  The  Nations  were  subdivided,  moreover,  into  smaller  groups, 
the  tribes.  At  Paris,  for  example,  the  French  Nation  was  com- 
posed of  five  tribes  or  provinces:  Paris,  Sens,  Kheims,  Tours,  and 
Bourges. 


104  ABELARD 

the  totality  of  students  and  masters.  After  the  for- 
mation of  the  Faculties,  the  four  Nations  comprised 
only  the  members  of  the  Faculty  of  Arts  and  those 
students  of  other  Faculties  who  had  not  yet  obtained 
the  grade  of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  The  three  superior 
Faculties,  Theology,  Medicine,  and  Law,  had  nothing 
in  common  thenceforward  with  the  Nations.  In  spite 
of  some  uncertainties  at  the  beginning  —  it  seems,  in 
fact,  that  the  Faculty  of  Arts  had  had  an  existence  in- 
dependently of  the  four  Nations  in  the  second  half  of 
the  thirteenth  century  —  from  the  commencement  of 
the  fourteenth  century  and  until  the  end,  the  Nations 
were  the  four  distinct  companies  which  constituted 
the  Faculty  of  Arts.  It  was  in  this  way  that  the  Uni- 
versity of  Paris,  in  its  complete  form,  was  composed 
of  seven  companies  :  the  three  Superior  Faculties  and 
the  four  Nations,  each  having  a  deliberative  voice  in 
the  general  assemblies,  and  in  their  totality  appoint- 
ing seven  delegates  whenever  a  deputation  was  to  be 
sent  to  the  pope  or  to  the  king.^ 

What  is  peculiar  to  the  University  of  Paris  in  the 
])icture  that  I  have  just  drawn,  is  the  distinction  be- 
tween the  four  Nations  (composing  the  Faculty  of 
Arts)  and  the  three  other  Faculties.  In  the  otlier 
■iniversities  of  the  Middle  Ages,  all  the  Faculties, 
1,0th  masters  and  students,  were  distributed  among 
(,'ie  different  Nations,  the  number  of  which,  more- 
over, was  extremely  variable.  And,  in  fact,  this  sec- 
ond method  of  organization  was  the  more  rational. 

1  In  1509,  for  example,  the  University  Assembly  was  composed  of 
the  three  deans  of  the  Superior  Faculties  and  the  four  procurators 
of  the  Nations,  presided  over  by  the  rector. 


NATIONS  AND  FACULTIES  106 

That  it  was  not  followed  at  Paris  was  chiefly  because 
of  the  preponderance  always  held  in  this  university 
by  the  Faculty  of  Arts,  whether  by  reason  of  the  im- 
portance of  the  studies  it  controlled,  or  by  the  number 
of  its  masters  and  students. 

At  Bologna,  as  at  Paris,  the  Nations  were  consti- 
tuted in  the  early  years  of  the  thirteenth  century,  but 
under  a  slightly  different  form.  There  the  students 
were  grouped  in  two  distinct  associations,  the  Ultra- 
montanes  and  the  Citramontanes,  the  foreigners  and 
the  Italians,  who  formed  two  universities,  the  Trans- 
alpine and  the  Cisalpine,  each  with  its  chiefs,  who 
were  not  styled  procurators  but  counsellors  ;  the  first 
was  composed  of  eighteen  Nations  and  the  second  of 
seventeen.'  At  Padua  twenty-two  Nations  were  enu- 
merated. Montpellier  had  only  three  in  1339, — the  | 
Catalans,  the  Burgundians,  the  Provencals  ;  each  sub- 
divided, however,  into  numerous  groups.  Orleans  had  I 
ten :  France,  Germany,  Lorraine,  Burgundy,  Cham- 
pagne, Picardy,  Normandy,  Touraine,  Guyanne,  and 
Scotland ;  Poitiers  had  four  :  France,  Aquitaine,  Tou- 
raine, and  Berry ;  Prague  had  four  also,  in  imitation 
of  Paris  ;  Lerida  had  twelve,  in  imitation  of  Bologna, 
etc.2 

But,  whether  more  or  less  numerous,  and  whatever   I 
their  special  organization,  the  Nations  in  all  the  univer- 
sities bore  witness  to  that  need  of  association  which  | 

1  At  Bologna  the  students  who  belonged  to  the  tmon  of  Bologna 
were  not  included  in  the  NatioTis. 

2  In  the  English  universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge  the  divis- 
ion into  "Nations"  was  to  some  extent  represented  by  that  of 
North  and  South.    See  Mulliuger,  op.  cit.,  p.  135. 


i 


106  ABELARD 


is  one  of  the  characteristics  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and 
which  manifested  itself  at  the  same  epoch  in  so  many- 
ways,  in  the  establishment  of  trade-guilds  as  well  as 
in  the  foundation  of  religious  orders.  By  setting  nat- 
ural boundaries  to  the  army  of  students,  they  exercised 
a  great  influence  on  the  development  of  the  universi- 
ties :  they  regulated  their  action.  They  were,  to  a  cer- 
<  tain  degree,  lay  communities,  assuring  to  their  mem- 
i  bers  all  the  benefits  and  advantages  of  association. 
They  had  all  the  qualities  which  belong  to  party 
I  ^irit ;  they  had  its  defects  likewise.  And  since  the 
evil  must  be  told  as  well  as  the  good,  one  of  the  con- 
sequences of  their  organization  was  to  prevent  the 
blending  and  fusion  of  races,  and  to  maintain  the  dis- 
tinction of  provinces  and  nationalities  among  the 
r pupils  of  the  same  university.  Each  Nation,  in  fact, 
jealously  preserved  the  customs  and  the  language  of 
its  province  or  country.  Each  had  its  special  patron. 
At  Paris,  the  Nation  of  France  invoked  St.  Thomas 
}  of  Canterbury,  and  later,  St.  William  of  Bourges,  a 
SEoxmer  student  of  the  university.  St.  Romanus,  Arch- 
bishop of  Rouen,  was  the  patjron  of  the  Nation  of 
Normandy.  St.  Charlemagne,  after  others,  became  pa- 
tron of  the  Nation  of  Germany.  But  if  the  different 
patrons  of  the  Nations,  all  borrowed  from  the  cata- 
logue of  Saints,  were  in  harmony  among  themselves, 
it  was  far  different  with  the  Nations,  for  they  barely 

[understood  each  other.  Rivalries  and  antipathies  be- 
tween one  people  and  another  were  carried  to  the 
very  benches  of  their  common  school  and  engendered 
a  thousand  quarrels  there.  To  prove  tliis  it  is  suffi- 
cient to  recall  the  ungracious  epithets  bandied  between 


NATIONS  AND  FACULTIES  107 

the  Nations,  at  a  time  when  the  English  were  called 
"drunkards  and  cowards,"  the  French  "proud  and 
effeminate,"  the  Germans  "  choleric,  gluttonous,  and 
dirty";  when  the  Normans  were  accused  of  being 
"charlatans  and  boasters,"  the  Burgundians  "brutal 
and  stupid,"  the  Flemings  "bloody  and  incendiary 
men " ;  or  when  with  less  violence  as  to  form,  but 
with  the  same  tendency  to  particularism,  people  spoke 
of  the  "dancers  of  Orleans,"  the  "tennis  players  of 
Poitiers,"  the  "  dirty  fellows  of  Paris,"  or  the  "  lovers 
from  Turin." 

II 

In  its  present  signification,  a  "Faculty"  (Faculty 
of  Law,  Medicine,  etc.)  is  a  scientific  or  literary  body 
charged  with  a  special  branch  of  instruction  in  a  uni-; 
versity.     As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  was  much  in  this  / 
same  sense  that  the  Middle  Ages  understood  Facul- 
ties.    Duboulay  thus  defines  the  word :  "  A  body,  an 
association  (sodalitium)  of  members  devoted  to  special 
studies  (certce  alicui  disciplincB) ."     But  in  the  earliest   1 
times  "  Faculty  "  seems  to  have  been  merely  a  syno-   1 
nym  of  science  and  of  art.     Thus,  in  the  statutes  of — 1 
the  University  of  Naples,  Frederic  II  speaks,  in  1224, 
of  those  who  chirurgice  facultatem  instrimnt;  that  is,  of 
those  who  practise  the  art  of  surgery.    So  too  at  Paris, 
in  the  first  half  of  the  thirteenth  century,  Crevier 
establishes  by  authentic  texts  that  "  faculty  "  was  the 
equivalent  of  "class  of   studies."      For  example,  in— J 
1251,   in   a  regulation   of   the   university,  after   the 
enumeration  of  the   arts   and  sciences  taught  there 
"  theology,  canon  law,  medicine,  arts  and  grammar," 


108  ABELARD 

it  is  said :  "  those  who  study  in  the  aforesaid  facul- 
ties." Now,  grammar  never  having  constituted  a  fifth 
Faculty  in  the  later  sense  of  the  word,  it  is  evident 
that  the  expression  was  here  employed  in  its  wide 
signification  of  "  knowledge,"  of  "  special  science."  ' 

At  what  epoch  the  four  Faculties  of  the  Middle 
Ages  were  constituted  as  so  many  societies,  bodies 
independent  of  each  other,  although  reunited  under 
the  common  laws  of  each  university,  it  is  difficult  to 
say  with  precision.  The  University  of  Paris,  for 
example,  was  already  in  existence;  the  general  asso- 
ciation of  masters  and  scholars  had  been  an  accom- 
plished fact  since  1200 ;  in  1208,  Innocent  III  had 
addressed  instructions  "  to  all  the  doctors  of  theology, 
canon  law,  and  liberal  arts  established  at  Paris,  uni- 
versis  doctoribus  sacrae  pagince,  etc. ;  the  university 
had  acted  as  a  single  person  in  1221  by  a  formal  dona- 
tion to  a  religious  order,  styling  itself  Universitas 
magistrorum  et  scJiolariiim;^  in  a  word,  it  had  been 
constituted  for  many  years  as  a  centre  of  studies; 
and  yet,  in  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
there  is  still  no  sign  of  anything  which  resembles  a 
regular  and  formal  distribution  of  students  and  pro- 
fessors into  separate  Faculties. 
n  The  formation  of  Faculties  was  the  work  of  time. 
'Studies  developed  in  different  directions;  the  number 
)f  scholars  and  masters  in  each  specialty  multiplied 
lefore  the  scientific  species  which  we  call  a  Faculty 
[assumed  its  later  form.  Brought  together  by  the 
[similarity   of    their    labors,    the    professors   of  each 

1  Crevier,  t.  i,  p.  375. 

'  Chartularium  Univ.  Paris.,  t.  i,  p.  99. 


NATIONS  AND  FACULTIES  109 

branch  of  study  at  first  grouped  themselves  spon- 
taneously, in  order  to  regulate  all  that  related  to  1 
their  special  science  and  their  own  students.  DiffejjiJ 
ent  statutes  for  the  masters  in  theology  and  the  mas- 
ters of  arts  were  established  in  1215  by  the  papal 
legate,  Robert  de  CourQon.^  But  the  distinction  of 
Faculties  does  not  clearly  appear,  notwithstanding, 
until  much  later,  in  the  second  half  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  The  Faculty  of  Law  did  not  have  its  own 
seal  until  1271.  The  seal  of  the  Faculty  of  Medicine 
is  mentioned  for  the  first  time  in  1274 ;  and  the  same 
Faculty  did  not  have  its  first  dean  until  1265  or  1268. 

It   is   from   the    confused   mass   of   studies   called  j 
the  "liberal   arts"  that,  like  several  branches  from 
one  stem,  the  Faculties  gradually  sprang  forth :  the   1 
Faculty  of  Theology  first  of  all,  towards  1260.     This,    1 
if   we   may   credit    Duboulay   and    Crevier,^   on    the 
occasion  of  the  bull  of  Alexander  III  (1257)  which 
had  opened  the  university  to  all  the  religious  orders, 
to  the  Carmelites  and  Augustinians  as  well  as  to  the 
Dominicans  and  Franciscans.     Naturally,  it  was  as 
theologians,  and  in  order  to  obtain  the  doctorate  in 
theology,  that  these  monks  had  forced  the  door  of 
the  university.      Those  of  the  university  professors 
who  already  made  a  special  branch  of  theology  were 
the  only  ones  who  received  them   favorably,   while  I 
the  masters  of  arts  displayed  the  most  lively  repug- 
nance at  admitting  the  members  of  religious  orders,  \ 
whom   they  looked  upon  as  intruders.     The   theolo- 
gians were  in  consequence  led   to   form   a   separate) 

1  Chartularium  Univ.  Paris.,  t.  i,  p.  78. 
*  Crevier,  t.  i,  p.  ■K30. 


110  ABELARD 

j  group,  and,  without  separating  from  the  university, 
^-to^  constitute  themselves  a  distinct  Faculty. 
f    During  the  years  which  succeeded,  between  1260 
/  and  1280,  the  Faculties  of  Canon  Law  or  Decrees,  and 
/  of  Medicine,  likewise  organized  themselves.     In  1271 
/    or  1272,  as  we  have  said  already,  the  Faculty  of  Law, 
I    in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  Chancellor  of  Notre 
JDame,  at  last  possessed  a  seal  of  its  own.^     It  must 
be  noted  that  in  the  statutes  of  Eobert  de  CourQon, 
in  1215,  no  mention  is  made  either  of  law  or  medicine. 
So  far  as  medicine  is  concerned  there  is  nothing  sur- 
prising in  this  omission,  when  one  reflects  that  the 
Church  had  more   than   once  forbidden  not  merely 
monks,  but  priests  also  —  though  unsuccessfully  —  to 
study  or  to  teach  medicine.     The  first  public  act  of 
the  Paris  Faculty  of  Medicine  dates  from  1270 ;  it  is 
a  decision  rendered  by  the  masters  against  a  student 
who  had  been  guilty  of  a  fraud  in  order  to  obtain  the 
licentiate's  degree ;  ^  this  document  also  makes  men- 
tion of  the  Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Medicine. 

It  is  thus  that,  towards  1275,  the  University  of  Paris 
is  found  constituted  with  its  already  long-established  > 
four  Nations  and  its  four  Faculties.^     Certain  ambi- 

1  Chartularium  Univ.  Paris.,  t.  i,  p.  503  :  Agreement  between  the 
Chancellor  of  Paris  and  the  Faculty  of  Decrees  upon  the  usage  of 
the  seal  of  the  said  Faculty. 

2  Chartularium  Univ.  Paris.,  t.  i,  p.  488. 

3  The  question  whether  the  regular  organization  of  the  Faculties 
preceded  or  followed  that  of  the  Nations  has  been  much  disputed  by 
the  historians  of  the  University  of  Paris.  It  seems  to  me  indubit- 
able that  the  Nations  are  more  ancient  than  the  Faculties.  This  is 
the  conclusion  from  all  the  facts  I  have  cited.  Moreover,  it  is  more 
natural,  more  logical,  that  scholars  and  masters  should  have  grouped 
themselves  according  to  their  natural  afllnities  of  race  at  first, 
rather  than  according  to  the  similarity  of  their  studies. 


NATIONS  AND  FACULTIES  111 

guities  still  remained,  however;  thus,  in  1274,  the 
Faculty  of  Arts  styled  itself  universitas  artistarum. 
But  in  1277,  the  distinction  of  the  Faculties  was  for- 
mally recognized  by  the  assembled  university ;  and  in 
1281,  the  university  promised  to  defend  each  of  its 
Faculties.^ 

From  this  time  on  the  traditional  four  Faculties  con^ 
stantly  perform  autonomous  and  personal  acts ;  they 
publish  ordinances ;  they  regulate  the  order  of  their 
lectures ;  they  have  their  private  assemblies  and  their 
leaders ;  they  confer  degrees  on  their  own  students. 
The  three  Faculties  of  Theology  (saci-a  Facultas),  of 
Law  {consxdtissima  Facultas),  of  Medicine  (saluberrima 
Facultas),  were  denominated  Superior  Faculties  be- 
cause, in  order  to  be  admitted  to  them,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  have  already  received  the  degrees  of  the 
Faculty  of  Arts  {subtilissima  Facultas). 

The  separation  of  the  Faculties  is  a  feature 
common  to  all  the  universities  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
It  does  not  appear,  however,  that  it  was  every- 
where made  with  the  same  precision  as  at  Paris.  At 
Bologna  even  the  word  "  faculty "  seems  to  have 
been  unknown :  the  Faculties  were  represented  there 
by  "  colleges,"  —  college  of  jurists,  college  of  physi- 
cians. It  is  known,  moreover,  that  in  Italy  the  dis- 
tinct corporations  of  a  single  university  themselves 
took  the  title  of  university, — university  of  arts,  uni- 
versity of  law.*     It  might  be  said  that  in  papal  bulls 

1  "Declarat  imiversitas  facta  facultatum  esse  facta  universi- 
iatis  "  {Chartularium,  t.  i,  p.  5!I0). 

'^  The  same  was  true  at  Montpellier,  which  imitated  Bologna 
rather  thau  Paris. 


112  ABELARD 

the  primitive  sense  of  the  word  "  faculty "  persists 
even  to  the  fifteenth  century.  In  1450,  Nicholas  V, 
conceding  to  the  University  of  Barcelona  the  privi- 
leges of  that  of  Toulouse,  enumerates  in  what 
branches  of  instruction  the  studium  generale  might 
operate :  in  Theologia,  Jure  canonico  et  civili,  Artihus 
et  Medicina:  and  he  adds,  using  a  formula  which 
occurs  in  a  great  many  pontifical  acts,  in  qualihet  alia 
licita  facultate;  which  cannot  be  translated  but  by 
these  words :  "  in  any  other  permitted  science."  ^ 
Nearly  always  the  sovereigns  pontiffs  neglect  to 
notice  the  Faculties  properly  so  called,  and  content 
themselves  with  drawing  up  the  list  of  sciences 
taught.  Thus,  in  a  privilege  relating  to  the  Uni- 
versity of  Salamanca,  in  1313,  Clement  V  enumerates 
as  subjects  taught:  decrees,  decretals,  laws,  medicine, 
lo^ic,  grammar,  and  music.^ 

/  Remember,  moreover,  that  the  four  classic  Facul- 
ties did  not  exist  in  all  the  universities  even  when 

\  the  primitive  number  had  been  increased  in  them. 

\Complete  universities  were  in  the  minority.  On  tlie 
other  hand,  certain  ones,  Louvain  for  example,  had 
five  Faculties,  civil  law  being  separated  from  canon 
law.  Possibly  it  was  the  same  at  Salamanca,  where, 
in  any  case,  accessory  chairs  existed  called  extrava- 
gantes,  —  astrology  and  the  languages. 

These  peculiarities,  however,  are  of  small  impor- 
tance. What  it  is  interesting  to  verify  is  that  in  the 
majority  of  the  great  centres  of  instruction  the 
Faculties  were  established  by  the  thirteenth  century ; 

1  Vicente  do  la  Fuente,  op.  cit.,  t.  i,  p.  336. 
3  Vicente  de  la  Fuente,  op.  cit.,  p.  313, 


NATIONS  AND  FACULTIES  113 

that  at  this    epoch   human    knowledge,   throiigK  a  / 
natural  division  of  labor  and  thought,  through  un-  > 
noted  progress  in  classical  antiquity,  had  been  divided  i 
into  several  categories,  a  condition  indispensable  to   i 
the  development  of  higher  studies.    Assuredly,  there   1 
is  nothing  definitive,  nothing  necessary,  in  the  scholas- 
tic division  of  the  four  Faculties;  and  it  is  possible 
to  imagine  as  many  special  Faculties  in  a  university 
as  there   are    separate    departments    comprehended 
under  science  itself.     In  our  own  century  the  Faculty 
of  Arts  has  been  dismembered  in  order  to  give  birth 
to  the  Faculty  of  Sciences  and  the  Faculty  of  Letters. 
And  doubtless  the  future  will  see  new  dismemberments 
which  will  correspond  to  a  more  exact  determination 
of  the  various  departments  of  science  and  to  the  ex- 
tension of  the    field  of  thought.     But  the  honoF'oF| 
having   begun  the  movement  to  divide  the  branches' 
of  human  knowledge,  and  thus  prepare  the  way  for 
modern  science,  belongs  to  the  men  of  the  Middlej 
Ages.  -,=_—; 


CHAPTER  III 

GOVERNMENT  OF  UNIVERSITIES 

I.  Republican  and  democratic  character  of  the  universities  —  The 
election  a  general  rule  in  the  choice  of  the  officers  —  Short  terms 
of  office  —  The  special  privileges  conceded  to  university  officers, 
nominal  rather  than  real  —  II.  The  Chancellor :  his  functions  — 
His  authority  decreased  with  the  development  of  the  privileges 
of  the  universities  —  Rivalry  of  the  chancellor  with  the  Rector 
of  Paris  — III.  The  Rector:  his  powers  —  Conditions  of  eligi- 
bility —  Mode  of  election  —  Installation  of  the  rector  in  the 
University  of  Bologna  —  IV.  Other  university  officers — Procura- 
tors —  Syndics  —  Beadles—  The  messengers  —  V.  Self-government 
of  universities  —  General  council  of  the  University  of  Paris  — 
Separate  meetings  of  nations  and  faculties  —  The  deans. 


The  universities  of  the  Middle  Ages  were  veritable 
republics,^  almost  independent,  slightly  subordinated 
ii  to  the  State  and  the  Church,  with  the  peculiarity  that, 
i  in  the  first  centuries  of  their  existence  their  subordi- 
j  nation  to  the  ecclesiastical  power  was  the  more  pro- 
I  nounced,  while,  toward  the  end,  the  control  of  the 
civil  power  increased. 

Moreover,  they  were   federal   republics  which  in- 
cluded a  more  or  less  extensive  number  of  associations 

1  "  The  system  of  a  republican  regime  has  always  been  that  of 
the  University  of  Paris  "  (Creyier,  op.  cit.,  t.  ii,  p.  295).    This  repub- 
licau  character  was  still  more  marked  in  the  Italian  universities. 
114 


GOVERNMENT  OF   UNIVERSITIES  115 

and  distinct  companies :  Faculties  and  Nations,  inde- 
pendent themselves  although  incorporated  with  the 
universities,  having  their  separate  deliberations  and 
regulating  their  own  affairs. 

The  character  of  self-government  which  distinguished  ! 
the  universities  of  the  Middle  Ages  shows  itself  in 
various  ways :  in  the  first  place,  in  the  principle  of  i 
election  generally  employed  in  the  choice  of  officers ; 
again,  in  the  brief  duration  of  the  powers  conferred  / 
on  these  officers ;  and  finally  in  the  eminently  honorary 
nature  of  these  powers,  the  real  spring  of  action  re- 
maining either  in  the  hands  of  the  particular  assem- 
blies of  each  Nation  or  Faculty,  or  in  those  of  the 
general  assembly  of  the  university.  In  fact,  not  only 
were  the  dignitaries  elected,  under  varying  conditions 
and  complex  forms  of  which  I  do  not  pretend  to  give 
all  the  details  here,  but,  in  addition,  these  elective 
functions  did  not  last  long.  There  was  a  perpetual 
mobility,  an  incessant  renewing  of  persons,  in  the 
administrative  posts  of  the  university.  At  Paris,  up 
to  1266,  the  rector  was  elected  for  a  month  or  six 
weeks  only :  it  was  thought  that  a  great  tiling  had 
been  done  in  establishing  the  rule  that  three  months 
should  be  the  extent  of  his  incumbency.  As  time 
went  on  it  was  a  year,  or  two  years,  at  most.  Like 
all  democratic  societies  which,  jealous  of  their  rights, 
are  averse  to  long  concessions  of  their  sovereignty, 
and  unwilling  that  the  powers  they  delegate  shall 
remain  long  in  the  same  hands,  the  universities,  desir- 
ous to  maintain  " la  liberty  du  corps"  as  Crevier  says, 
looked  with  suspicion  on  long  terms  of  office  without 
disturbing  themselves  about  the  inconveniences  that 


116  ABELARD 

might  be  occasioned  by  the  too  frequent  change  of 
persons.  Indeed,  it  is  incontestable  that  the  authority 
of  the  officers  elected  by  the  universities  was  more 
honorary  and  decorative  than  real.  These  officers 
were  hardly  more  than  agents  charged  with  executing 
the  will  of  their  constituents,  or  rather,  like  the  rector, 
the  rector  magnijicus  of  certain  universities,  spectacular 
personages  whose  chief  duty  is  to  parade  in  the  front 
rank  at  ceremonies,  and  who,  in  a  word,  reign  rather 
than  govern. 

n 

tfl    There  was  only  one  exception  to  this  democratic 

I  organization  of  the  universities :  that  constituted  by 
/    the  existence  of  the  chancellor,  a  personage  apart,  the 

I  only  one  whose  power  did  not  emanate  directly  from 
the  universities  themselves,  representing  the  Church 

I  and,  as  Crevier  says,  "  foreign  to  the  body."  This 
'.supremacy,  however,  was  very  often  impatiently  borne, 
and  the  history  of  the  disputes  between  the  University 
of  Paris  and  its  chancellors  has  more  than  once  justi- 
fied the  proverb :  "  Our  enemy  is  our  master." 

"before  the  foundation  of  the  Paris  University,  it 
was  only  the  Chancellor  of  Notre  Dame  who,  accord- 
ing to  the  common  ecclesiastical  law,  could  confer  the 
"  license  "  at  Paris,  the  right  to  teach  (licentia  docendi) . 
From  him  emanated  the  power  which  elsewhere,  at 
Angers  and  at  Orleans,  for  example,  was  exercised 
by  the  ecclesiastic  who  taught  philosophy  and  belles- 
lettres,  and  was  called  the  ^coldtre.  "  The  keys  of 
science,"  they  said  in  the  thirteenth  century,  "have 
been  placed  in  the  hands  of  masters  by  the  sovereign 


GOVERNMENT  OF  UNIVERSITIES  117 

pontiff,  or  by  the  Chancellor  of  Paris  by  delegation 
from  the  pope,  in  order  to  open  the  treasury  of  wis- 
dom." ^  It  was  the  chancellor's  duty  to  draw  up,  seal, 
and  forward  to  their  destination,  the  acts  passed  by  the 
Chapter  of  Notre  Dame.  By  degrees  his  power  over 
the  professors  and  students  became  very  great ;  he 
granted  or  refused  arbitrarily  the  right  to  teach ;  he 
could  excommunicate  the  rebels  or  confine  them  in 
his  prison.* 

But  these  extraordinary  powers  of  the  chancellor 
were  bound  to  decline  as  fast  as  the  universities 
attained  a  definite  organization.  The  popes  them- 
selves aided  the  University  of  Paris  to  throw  them 
off  and  to  gain  its  independence.  In  1219,  Pope 
Honorius  III  decreed  that  the  students  should  enjoy 
the  right  to  teach,  licentia  docendi,  if  they  were  worthy 
of  it,  whether  the  chancellor  were  willing  or  not  (etiam 
invito  cancellario).  At  the  same,  he  forbade  the  chan- 
cellor to  excommunicate  any  member  of  the  university 
without  the  authority  of  the  Holy  See.^  In  1231,  in 
the  famous  bull  Parens  scientiarum  .  .  .  ,  Gregory  IX 
again  restricted  the  authority  of  the  chancellor  within 
the  narrowest  limits.*  Finally,  in  1252,  the  university 
obtained  from  Innocent  IV  the  right  to  have  a  seal  of 
its  own :  "a  right,"  says  Thurot,  "which  was  the  sign 
and  guarantee  of  complete  independence."  * 

The  Church  itself,  then,  labored  to  reduce  the  power 

1  CharUdarium  Univ.  Paris. :  Introductio,  p.  xi. 

2  It  was  in  1231  only  that  the  Chancellor  of  Paris  ceased  to  have 
a  prison  of  his  own. 

8  Chartularium  Univ.  Paris.,  p.  102.  *  Ibid.,  p.  13G. 

6  Thurot,  op.  cit.,  p.  12.  In  1221  the  university  had  tried  to  have 
a  seal ;  but  Honorius  III  ordered  it  to  be  broken. 


118  ABELARD 

of  its  own  delegate.  Thurot  is  in  error,  however,  when 
he  affirms  that  the  powers  granted  by  the  popes  to  the 
University  of  Paris  deprived  the  chancellor  of  all 
his  authority.  P^re  Denifle,  relying  upon  the  texts, 
has  demonstrated  in  an  unanswerable  manner,  that 
throughout  the  whole  of  the  thirteenth  century  the 
Chancellor  of  Notre  Dame  retained  more  power  in 
the  university  than  any  one  else.  Jean  de  Garlande 
said  of  him  in  1250 :  Parisius  studii  directas  ducit 
habenas. 

rsoniisice  VIII,  in  1301,  declared  that  the  govern- 
/ment  of  the  university  belonged  to  the  chancellor. 
/  It  is  probable  that  the  provincial  universities,  less 
I  ambitious  than  the  University  of  Paris  and  not  so 
I  independent,  submitted  to  the  supremacy  of  their 
I  chancellors  much  longer. 

All,  or  nearly  all,  the  universities  had  a  chancellor 
appointed  under  slightly  different  conditions.  Some- 
times this  personage  was  appointed  directly  by  the 
pope :  thus  at  Prague  the  Archbishop  of  the  city  was 
invested  by  Pope  Clement  VI  with  these  functions  from 
'  1347.  In  1219,  Pope  Honorius  III  issued  the  following 
decree  for  Bologna :  "  Considering  that  the  promotion 
to  degrees  is  granted  to  unworthy  individuals,  none 
can  be  granted  in  future  without  the  consent  of  the 
Archdeacon  of  Bologna  and  a  preliminary  examina- 
tion." *  From  this  period  the  popes  addressed  them- 
selves to  the  Archdeacon  of  Bologna  as  the  head  of 
the  university.  The  Bishop  of  Turin  and  the 
Archbishop  of  Pisa  were  chancellors  of  these  two 
universities.  At  Montpellier  it  was  the  Bishop  of 
1  Savigny,  op.  cit.,  t.  iii,  p.  165. 


GOVERNMENT  OF  UNIVERSITIES  lia 

Maguelonne  who  acted  as  chancellor.  In  the  imperial 
University  of  Naples,  which  was  constructed  on  an 
entirely  different  plan  and  was  closely  dependent  on 
the  State,  the  chancellor  was  appointed  by  the  em- 
peror. At  Padua,  the  university  became  a  party  in 
the  selection  of  the  chancellor ;  the  professors  elected 
him  and  the  pope  confined  himself  to  confirming  his 
powers. 

The  chancellor,  therefore,  notwithstanding  the  n^H 
creasing  autonomy  of  the  universities,  continued  to  be  | 
an  important  personage.     He  was,  it  might  be  said,  I 
the  living  symbol  of  the  ecclesiastical  origin  of  the  i 
universities,  and  of  the   authority  the   Church   still  \ 
claimed  to  exercise  over  them.     It  suffices,  howevei:^ 
to   recall  the  names   of  some   of  the  chancellors  of 
Paris,  and  notably  that  of  Gerson  (1392),  to  under- 
stand the  importance  of  the  r6le  that  devolved  upon 
men  who  were  occasionally  the  most  illustrious  of 
their  age. 

In  the  long  struggle,  lasting  throughout  the  thir-  \ 
teenth  century,  to  decide  whether  the  chancellor  or    j 
the  rector  was  to  be  the  supreme  head  of  the  Univer-   { 
sity  of  Paris,  the  rector  finally  triumphed ;   but  the    ! 
chancellor  continued,  none  the  less,  to  exercise  powers 
and  discharge  functions  of  importance.     There  were 
two  chancellors  at  Paris,  moreover,  of  Avhom  the  most 
ancient  belonged  to  Notre  Dame,  and  the  other  to  the 
Abbey  of  Ste.  Genevieve.*    The  following  extract  from 

1  Mention  is  made  of  tlie  Chancellor  of  Ste.  Genevieve  for  the  first 
time  about  1255.  There  had  been  schools  on  the  heights  of  Ste. 
Grenevieve  in  the  time  of  Abelard ;  but  it  was  about  1219  that  mas- 
ters and  scholars  first  emigrated  in  great  numbers  from  the  city 


120  ABELARD 

Crevier  fixes  clearly  the  prerogatives  they  retained 
up  to  the  eighteenth  century :  "  The  Chancellor  of 
Notre  Dame  confers  the  license  on  those  who  are  to 
profess  theology  and  medicine.  He  formerly  enjoyed 
the  same  authority  in  the  Faculty  of  Law,  which 
shook  it  off  in  1679,  but  he  still  continues  to  receive 
a  fee  from  each  licentiate.  He  still  confers  the 
license  on  half  of  those  Avho  annually  present  them- 
selves to  take  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts.  The 
Chancellor  of  Ste.  Genevieve  has  for  his  share  only 
the  other  half  of  the  Faculty  of  Arts."  ^ 


III 

/  In  nearly  all  the  universities  the  rector  either  was 
j  from  the  beginning,  or  gradually  became,  the  first 
/  scholastic  magistrate. 
"The  title  of  rector,  with  the  prerogatives  appertain- 
ing to  it,  does  not  appear  definitely  until  1245.^  Be- 
fore this  period,  the  same  word,  which  is  sometimes 
used  in  papal  bulls,  seems  to  have  been  synonymous 
with  "  master  regent." 

It  is  probable,  however,  that  in  the  University  of 
Paris  the  rector  existed  before  1245,^  and  we  have 

to  the  left  bank  of  the  Seine.     It  was  this  which  rendered  the 
appointment  of  a  cliancellor  of  Ste.  Geneviiive  necessary. 

1  Crevier,  t.  vii,  p.  I'M. 

2  Crevier  claims,  however,  to  find  mention  of  it  in  the  privilege 
of  Philip  Augustus,  of  1200,  in  which  he  speaks  of  the  capiUde 
scholarium  Pctrisiensirtm ;  wliich  in  a  contemporary  French  ver- 
sion is  translated  by  le  chevetaine,  "the  captain,"  of  the  scholars. 
But  this  officer  evidently  had  not  as  yet  the  character  of  a  true 
rector. 

8  From  1245  to  1252,  says  Denifle,  nihil  aliud  quam  Facultatem 


GOVERNMENT  OF  UNIVERSITIES  121 

every  ground  for  supposing  that  the  first  rector  was 
elected  at  the  time  when  the  four  Nations,  of  which 
he  was  the  chief,  were  organized :  that  is,  as  I  have 
said  already,  from  1215  to  1225. 

At  first  rector  of  the  Nations,  and,  before  the  Fac- 
ulties were  formally  constituted,  rector  of  the  still 
confused  mass  of  the  entire  university,  it  seems  that, 
at  the  time  of  the  organization  of  the  separate  Facul- 
ties, he  remained  for  some  time  longer  the  chief  of  the 
Faculty  of  Arts  only,  the  other  Faculties  being  sub- 
ordinate at  the  outset  merely  to  their  respective  deans. 
It  was  towards  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century 
that  the  rector  insensibly  extended  his  authority  over 
the  Faculties  of  Law  and  Medicine,  and  still  later, 
over  that  of  Theology,  though  not  without  meeting 
strenuous  resistance  from  their  deans,  and  especially 
from  the  dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Theology.^ 

Let  me  sum  up  in  a  few  words  the  principal  prerog- 
atives of  the  rectors.  At  Paris  it  was  the  rector  who 
convoked  both  general  and  special  assemblies  by 
means  of  beadles  and  presided  over  them.  In  these 
reunions  it  was  he  who  proposed  the  affairs  to  be 
deliberated  on  and  who  decided  them.  It  appears 
that  he  did  not  take  part  in  the  discussions.  Accord- 
ing to  the  statute  of  1275,  he  had  the  additional  right 
in  the  intervals  between  the  assemblies  of  the  Faculty 
of  Arts,  which,  nevertheless,  occurred  once  a  week, 
to  regulate  pressing  affairs  with  the  assistance  of  the 

Artiu7n  Rectori  incumhentem  videmus.  And  this  lasted  for  several 
years  longer. 

^In  1291  the  dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Theology  protested  against 
the  attempt  of  the  rector  to  convoke  it  by  means  of  the  beadle ; 
and  this  struggle  was  prolonged  until  1^1. 


122  ABELARD 

procurators  of  the  nations.  He  thus  constituted  a 
sort  of  tribunal  before  which  matters  of  discipline 
were,  so  to  speak,  judged  in  the  first  instance,  though 
with  the  right  of  a  final  appeal  to  the  assembly  of  the 
university.  In  the  fourteenth  century  this  tribunal 
met  three  times  a  week.  The  rector  had  also  the  dis- 
posal of  a  part  of  the  dues  collected  from  the  students 
for  the  common  expenses  of  the  Faculty  of  Arts. 
Lastly  he  exercised  a  right  over  the  sale  of  parch- 
ment, which  was  seldom  authorized  except  at  the 
annual  Lendit  fair.^ 

>  In  other  universities,  and  notably  in  Italy,  the 
rector  had  still  more  extensive  privileges.  At  Bo- 
logna, he  exercised  not  only  civil  but  criminal  juris- 
diction over  the  students  and  all  members  of  the 
university.  He  condemned  the  delinquents  either  to 
fines  or  to  exclusion  from  the  university.^  With 
the  assistance  of  the  consiliarit,  who  replaced  at  Bo- 
logna the  procurators  of  the  nations  in  the  French 
universities,  he  constituted  a  sort  of  senate  which 
took  cognizance  of  a  great  number  of  affairs.  He 
presided  at  the  examinations  and  at  the  ceremonies  at 

1  The  Lendit  (probable  etymology,  Indictvs,  the  day  fixed),  a 
name  which  has  just  been  revived  at  Paris  to  designate  the  annual 
competition  in  physical  exercises  in  which  the  pupils  of  the  lycees 
take  part,  was  in  the  Middle  Ages  a  fair  which  opened  yearly, 
on  June  12,  in  the  plain  of  St.  Denis,  and  which  was  also  called 
the  fete  of  the  parchment.  The  university  went  thither  in  proces- 
sion, headed  by  the  rector.  Arrived  on  the  fair  ground,  the  rector, 
before  any  other  buyer,  laid  aside  the  quantity  of  parchment  needed 
by  tho  university,  and  received  a  gratuity  from  the  merchants, 
which  amounted  in  the  sixteenth  century  to  2500  francs. 

2  At  Padua,  the  rector  of  the  "artists"  took  cognizance  of  all 
crimes  save  those  in  which  condemnation  entailed  death  or  mutila- 
tion. 


GOVERNMENT  OF  UNIVERSITIES  123 

which  degrees  were  conferred.  It  was  he  who  in  the 
public  disputes  between  professors  as  well  as  students, 
received  the  petitions  and  formulated  the  questions. 
It  was  he,  too,  who,  after  having  examined  the  respec- 
tive merit  of  each  professor,  drew  up  every  year  what 
was  called  the  roll,  or  rotula.  And  this  variety  of 
important  prerogatives  conferred  upon  the  Italian 
rectors  seems  still  more  astonishing  when  it  is 
remembered  that  in  Italy  the  rector  was  usually  a 
student,  elected  by  his  comrades,  and  that  at  times  he 
was  not  more  than  twenty-five  years  old. 

The  different  universities  present,  moreover,  numer- ' 
ous  peculiarities  bearing  on  the  election  and  condi- 
tions of  eligibility  of  their  rectors.  At  Paris  the 
rector  was  originally  elected  by  the  procurators  of  the 
four  nations,  and  later  by  four  delegates  who  were 
called  intrants,  and  who  were  themselves  elected  by 
the  nations.  No  condition  with  regard  to  age  was 
fixed  for  the  rector ;  but  his  electors  must  be  thirty 
years  old.  He  must  be  taken  from  among  the  ruling 
masters  of  the  Faculty  of  Arts.  He  might  be  a  lay- : 
man,  but  he  must  be  a  celibate. 

At  Bologna,  the  rector  elected  by  the  students  must 
be  himself  a  student,^  be  twenty-five  years  of  age  (the 
same  limit  was  fixed  at  Montpellier ;  at  Padua  they 
contented  themselves  with  twenty-two  years),  and 
not  a  member  of  any  religious  order.  He  was  placed 
each  year.  As  a  rule  he  was  chosen  from  among  the 
wealthier  students.     The  statutes  of  the  University 

1  At  Padua,  where  there  were  several  rectors,  the  rector  of  the 
"artists"  must  be  a  pliysirian.  At  Bolojjna,  though  by  an  excep- 
tion, rectors  might  be  chosen  from  among  the  professors. 


124  ABELARD 

of  Louvain  required  that  the  rector  should  be  satis 
dives  et  locuples;  it  was  desired  that  he  should  be 
able  to  do  honor  to  functions  which  admitted  of  con- 
siderable display.  At  Dole  the  rector  could  be  neither 
a  monk,  a  member  of  a  religious  order,  a  native  of 
Dole,  a  husband,  nor  a  doctor.^  Celibacy  was  ordi- 
narily required.  At  Caen,  for  example,  whenever  a 
talented  young  professor  obtained  a  chair  of  law  or 
medicine,  haste  was  made  to  elevate  him  to  the  rector- 
ship lest,  by  a  speedy  marriage,  he  might  render 
himself  incapable  of  an  honor  of  which  he  seemed 
worthy.*  At  Naples  the  position  of  rector  was  a  per- 
manent one  and  was  filled  by  the  civil  authorities ; 
but  in  all  the  other  universities,  as  I  have  said,  the 
function  was  elective.  At  Oxford,  in  the  earliest 
times,  the  rector,  who  was  afterwards  replaced  by  the 
chancellor  as  head  of  the  university,  was  elected  by 
the  graduates  and  his  election  confirmed  by  the  Bishop 
of  Lincoln.^  At  Salamanca  the  professors  had  at 
their  head  a  rector  elected  by  the  cathedral icos,  or 
regents  of  theology  of  the  first  rank.     He  was  always 

1  Doctor,  that  is  to  say,  professor ;  it  was  held  that  the  rectorial 
functions  could  not  be  associated  with  the  duties  of  instruction.  In 
general,  the  rectors  did  not  teach,  except,  as  it  appears,  in  some  of 
the  Italian  universities. 

2  J.  Cauvet,  L'ancienne  University  de  Cam,  1873.  The  married 
rector  was  an  exception.    One  example  is  cited  at  Padua  in  1508. 

8  "  At  Cambridge  there  was  no  rector,  but  a  chancellor,  who  pos- 
sessed many  of  the  powers  of  the  Parisian  and  Bononian  rectors. 
Thou;;h  elected  by  the  two  houses  of  regents  and  non-regents,  he 
had  powers  independent  of  the  regents.  His  powers  were  ecclesi- 
astical, both  in  their  nature  and  origin.  He  was  constituted,  says 
Dean  Peacock,  a  distinct  estate  in  the  academical  commonwealth." 
—  Laurie,  op.  cit.,  p.  243. 


GOVERNMENT  OF  UNIVERSITIES  125 

chosen  from  some  great  family.  He  had  very  great 
privileges,  and  was  always  seated  under  a  canopy  at 
the  public  assemblies. 

It  was  usual  to  have  but  one  rector,  except  in  the 
Italian  universities,  where  there  were  several  rectors 
at  a  time.  At  Bologna,  at  Padua,  and  at  Verceil  there 
were  at  first  four  rectors,  one  for  the  Citramontanes, 
three  for  the  -Ultramontanes.  Later  on,  there  were 
but  two;  one  for  the  University  of  Law,  and  the 
other  for  the  University  of  Arts. 

The  true  reason  which  prevented  the  rectors  of  the 
Middle  Ages  from  playing  a  really  important  part  in 
the  universities,  was  the  temporary  character  of  their 
functions.  How  could  they  acquire  great  moral  au- 
thority in  a  few  months  ?  The  mediocrity  of  their 
role  is  suflBciently  proved  by  little  facts  like  these :  In 
1373  and  in  1374,  two  rectors  of  Paris  inform  us,  one 
that  he  has  had  the  rector's  book  rebound  in  red 
leather  and  provided  with  new  clasps ;  the  other,  that 
he  has  had  a  silver  chain  affixed  to  the  rectorial  seal. 
University  officers  who  relate  things  so  insignificant 
can  have  had  very  few  important  ones  to  do. 

It  was  above  all  by  the  display,  the  external  show 
of  his  position,  that  the  rector  was  a  notable  person. 
He  walked  in  the  first  rank,  not  merely  in  the  univer- 
sity ceremonies,  but  on  public  occasions.  At  Bologna 
he  took  precedence  over  the  archdeacon  (the  chancel- 
lor), the  bishops  and  the  archbishops,  him  of  Bologna 
alone  excepted.  The  rector  of  Paris  took  precedence 
even  of  the  archbishop;  more  than  once  he  sat  in  the 
Royal  Councils  with  the  prelates,  the  princes  and  the 
nobles.     In  an  age  when  outward  show  impressed  the 


128  ABELARD 

popular  imagination  still  more  forcibly  than  in  our 
own  day,  the  rector  was  distinguished  by  the  splen- 
dor of  his  costume,  ana  the  long  procession  which 
thronged  after  him  wherever  he  went.  And  this 
prestige  of  the  rectorial  dignity  lasted  to  the  very 
end.  In  the  eighteenth  century,  during  the  long 
quarrel  that  they  entered  into  for  the  sake  of  main- 
taining thf'ir  right  of  precedence  against  the  claims 
of  the  bishop,  the  rectors  of  Poitiers  said :  "  The 
rectors  of  universities  are  vested  in  purple  and  ermine 
like  the  kings,  and,  in  consequence,  they  retain  the 
function  of  sovereignty  and  of  royal  majesty."  And 
they  complacently  recall  how  Ferdinand,  King  of 
Spain,  caused  the  Hector  of  the  University  of  Alcala 
to  be  seated  between  Cardinal  Ximenes  and  himself. 

The   election  of   the  rector,  also,  was  surrounded 
everywhere   Ijy  a  great   number   of   precautions  and 
formalities.      The    heads    of    the    universities    were 
1    chosen  with  very  nearly  the  same  forms  as  were  the 
'    popes;   the  duration   of  the  conclave  whicli  was  to 
elect  them  was  even  determined  by  that  of  the  flame 
of  a  candle  of  fixed  weight.     The  installation  of  the 
new  rector  gave  rise  to  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and 
imposing  ceremonies  of  the  Middle  Ages.     Consider, 
for  instance,  how  the  thing  was  done  in  a  litth?  uni- 
versity, that  of  Dole:   "Convoked  the  previous  diiy, 
by  its  general  l^eadle  and  by  placards  posted  on  the 
doors    of   the    churches,  the  university  assembles  in 
the  Hall  of  Laws,  or  some  other  suitable  place,  under 
\  the  pHisidency  of  the  acting  r(H;tor,   who  o[)ens   the 
\  session  by  a  discourse  on  t]u\  inif)ortancf^  f)f  tlie  choice 
1  to  be  made,  and  the  necessity  of  electing  an  honorable 


GOVERNMENT  OF  UNIVERSITIES  127 

candidate  whose  merit  shall  be  obvious  to  all.  After- 
wards he  administers  the  oath  to  the  electors  on  the 
Gospels,  designates  those  who  are  to  count  the  votes, 
and  requests  the  former  to  repair,  without  going  out, 
to  a  special  hall  which  is  called  the  conclave.  From 
the  moment  when  they  cross  its  threshold  they  are 
prohibited  from  leaving  it  until  after  having  made  an 
election,  under  penalty  of  being  excluded  from  the 
university  for  a  month.  If  there  is  a  tie,  the  acting 
rector  takes  part  in  the  voting  and  ends  the  deadlock. 
But  he  alone  can  enter  the  chamber  where  the  deliber- 
ations are  going  on,  and  which  cannot,  in  any  case, 
last  more  than  an  hour.  During  this  time  the  general 
assembly  remains  in  session,  anxiously  awaiting  the 
announcement  of  the  person  elected,  and  whose  choice 
they  are  to  ratify.  Introduced  with  pomp  into  the 
assembly,  he  swears  to  maintain  the  honor,  the  dis- 
cipline, the  peace,  and  the  privileges  of  the  body,  to 
cause  the  statutes  to  be  observed,  and  to  make  no 
decision  without  the  advice  of  the  council."  * 

At  Bologna  the  assumption  of  the  rectorial  power 
was  accompanied  with  the  greatest  pomp.  The  cathe- 
dral was  the  place  ordinarily  chosen  for  the  ceremony. 
Drums  and  trumpets  opened  the  march ;  then  followed 
the  students  bearing  gilded  fasces,  in  memory  of  tlie 
Roman  magistrates ;  then  the  keepers  of  the  seal  and 
the  statutes  of  the  university,  who  carried  the  gown 
of  the  rector ;  a  beadle  followed  with  a  silver  sceptre. 
The  rector  advanced  in  the  midst  of  the  procession, 
vested  in   a   red   robe   with   golden  ornaments,  sur- 

1  Les  UniversiUs  de  la  Franche  Coint^,  par  II.  Beauue  et  d'Arbau- 
mont,  p.  xlviU. 


128  ABELARD 

rounded  by  all  the  dignitaries  of  the  university,  and 
followed  by  all  the  students.  All  the  magistrates  of 
the  city  and  the  dignitaries  of  the  clergy  were  assem- 
bled in  the  church.  There  the  discourses  were  deliv- 
ered ;  the  rector  was  formally  invested  with  his  gown ; 
and  the  crowd  afterwards  accompanied  the  newly 
elected  to  his  dwelling,  through  streets  adorned  and 
decked  in  holiday  attire.  The  remainder  of  the  day 
was  devoted  to  games  and  public  rejoicings.^ 

The  services  of  the  rector  were  not  rendered  gratui- 
tously, but  neither  were  they  richly  rewarded.  At 
Paris  the  rector  had  what  was  called  the  right  of  the 
chappe,^  a  payment  made  by  the  new  Masters  of  Arts,^ 
besides  the  tax  on  the  parchment  levied  at  the  Lendit 
fair,  and  certain  other  revenues.  At  Padua  the  salary 
of  the  rector  was  at  first  fifty  ducats,  afterwards  one 
hundred;  at  Pisa,  in  1473,  forty  florins,  afterwards 
sixty  or  one  hundred.  But  what  proves  that  the  rector 
was  not  highly  paid  by  the  university  —  although  he 
carried  a  large  violet  purse  at  his  belt,  "  in  which," 
says  Duboulay,*  '*  the  common  people  believed  that 
there  were  always  one  hundred  gold  crowns,  I  know 
not  on  what  foundation  "  —  is  that  candidates  for  recto- 
rial functions  were  usually  sought  for  among  those 
who  possessed  private  fortunes ;  still  another  proof 
is  found  in  the  gratuities  solicited  occasionally  by  the 
rectors  and  granted  by  the  Nations.     In   1347,  the 

1  Coppi,  op.  cit.,  p.  147. 

2  The  chappe,  that  is,  the  habit,  the  rectorial  costume. 
8  Crevier,  t.  iii,  p.  391. 

*  Diiboulay,  Remarques  sur  la  dk/nite,  puissance,  authority  et 
jurisdiction  du  Rccteur  de  I' University  de  Paris.  Paris,  1668, 
p.  24. 


GOVERNMENT   OF  UNIVERSITIES  129 

rector  was  allowed  four  livres ;  in  1410,  thirty  gold 
crowns,  "to  assist  him,  no  doubt,"  says  Crevier,  "in 
defraying  the  cost  of  his  dignity."  ^  The  smallness  of 
these  sums  would  cause  a  smile  if  one  did  not  take 
into  consideration  the  value  of  money  in  an  age  when 
King  Charles  V  thought  he  had  paid  Erasmus  gener- 
ously for  his  translation  of  the  Ethics  of  Aristotle,  by 
giving  him  one  hundred  francs. 

In  spite  of  its  short  duration  and  its  meagre  re- 
wards, the  office  of  rector  was  sought  for  none  the 
less,  and  much  intriguing  was  done  to  obtain  it. 
This  was  because  it  assured,  in  the  first  place,  several 
months  of  supremacy  and  universal  respect  to  him 
who  exercised  it ;  whenever  a  member  of  the  univer- 
sity addressed  the  rector,  in  Paris  at  all  events,  he 
said  to  him,  Vestra  amplitudo.  ...  It  was  also  be- 
cause, after  having  attained  the  rectorship,  there 
remained  to  the  rectors  throughout  their  lives  some- 
thing of  that  prestige  which  attached  in  Rome  to  men 
of  consular  rank ;  the  rector  of  Paris  was  inscribed 
first  in  the  list  which  the  university  annually  sub- 
mitted to  the  pope  for  the  conferring  of  benefices. 

i  IV 

i 

I  shall  not  dwell  upon  the  other  university  digni- 
taries, and  shall  limit  myself  to  little  more  than 
enumerating  them.  The  Nations  had  their  chiefs 
everywhere,  the  procurators  at  Paris,  the  counsellors 
(consigliarii)  at  Bologna.^     The  procurators  of  Cam- 

1  Crevier,  t.  ii,  p.  372. 

2  At  Bologna  there  were  as  many  couusellors  as  Nations,  namely, 


130  ABELARD 

bridge  were  called  vice-rectors.  The  procurator  kei)t 
a  register  of  his  administration;  there  was  a  liher pro- 
curatoris  as  there  was  a  liber  rectoris. 

Here  are  a  few  details  concerning  the  role  of  the 
procurators  of  the  medical  students  at  Montpellier  in 
the  sixteenth  century.  This  dignitary  was  elected  an- 
nually by  his  comrades,  and  might  be  taken  indiffer- 
ently from  the  ordinary  students  or  the  bachelors. 
"  As  the  common  welfare,"  said  the  statutes  of  1534, 
"depends  upon  those  who  administer  the  public  func- 
tions, special  care  should  be  taken  to  select  a  faithful 
and  zealous  procurator,  who  will  show  himself  jealous 
for  the  honor  and  the  interests  of  the  university;  any 
one  who  leads  a  dishonest  life,  who  is  addicted  to  gam- 
ing or  debauchery,  is  unworthy  of  this  office  and  should 
be  excluded  from  it."  The  procurator  of  Montpellier 
had  the  right  to  remonstrate  with  professors  who 
were  not  punctual  in  giving  their  lectures  :  "  At  the 
request  of  the  students  in  medicine,  I,  the  procurator, 
accompanied  by  counsellors  ^  and  assisted  by  a  notary 
and  witnesses,  have  presented  myself  to  the  doctors 
who  through  unwillingness  do  not  deliver  their  lec- 
tures, and  have  requested  them  to  fulfil  their  duties." 
The  badge  of  office  of  the  procurator  at  Monti)ellier 
was  a  baton  of  honor,  which  he  carried  in  the  public 
ceremonies.^  At  Paris  the  procurators  of  the  Nations 
wore  red  robes. 

The  procurator,  therefore,  was  the  agent,  the  chargS 

eighteen  for  the  Ultramontanes  aud  seveuteen  for  the  Citiamou- 
tanes. 

1  The  procurator  of  Montpellier  was  assisted  by  counsellors. 

2  La  Valabr^gue,  La  Vie  UniversUaire  a  Montpellier,  1890,  p.  9 
etseq. 


GOVERNMENT  OF  UNIVERSITIES  131 

d'affaires,  as  one  might  say,  of  the  students.  Some- 
times he  represented  a  Nation,  sometimes  a  Faculty, 
according  to  the  customs  of  different  universities. 
At  Paris  the  procurator  of  the  Nation  of  France  had 
special  privileges  ;  in  case  of  a  vacancy  in  the  rector- 
ate,  he  was  considered  the  head  of  the  Faculty  of 
Arts.  At  first  the  powers  of  the  office  did  not  regu- 
larly last  longer  than  a  month,  but  they  were  after- 
wards extended  to  a  year. 

Another  university  magistrate  who  did  not  exist 
everyAvhere,  but  whom  we  find  at  Paris  and  at  Bo- 
logna, was  the  syndic,  who  was  also  called  the  "  fiscal 
procurator."  At  Paris,  the  syndic,  according  to  Du- 
boulay  and  Crevier,  must  have  been  instituted  by 
1203.^  But  he  seems  to  have  played  a  sufficiently 
unimportant  part.  At  Bologna,  and  at  Padua  and 
Pisa  as  well,  the  syndic,  who  sometimes  took  the  title 
of  vice-rector,  was  elected  every  year  by  the  students. 
He  replaced  the  absent  rector.  Normally,  he  repre- 
sented the  university  before  the  tribunals.- 

Other  offices  were  rendered  necessary  by  the  admin- 
istration of  the  university  revenues,  —  at  Louvain  tlie 
receptores,  simple  stewards  or  cashiers ;  in  Italy,  the 
treasurer,  who  was  sometimes  chosen  from  among 
the  professors  and  again  from  the  students. 

In  like  manner  the  drawing  up  of  acts  and  registers 
was  confided  in  Paris  to  a  registrar  {(jreffier),  and  in 
Italy  to  a  notary,  to  archivists,  etc. 

The   universities    had    subaltern   agents   also,   the 

1  Crevicr,  t.  i,  p.  284. 

2  Among  the  dignitaries  of  the  university  must  also  be  reckoned 
the  conservator  of  royal  privileges  (at  Paris  the  provost)  and  the 
conservator  of  apostolic  privileges  (usually  a  bishop). 


132  ABELARD 

beadles,  whose  business  it  was  to  announce  the  days 
and  hours  of  lectures,  to  publish  the  decisions  of  the 
university  councils,  to  transmit  the  summons  of  the 
rector,  to  assist  the  professors  during  their  courses,  and 
to  maintain  good  order  in  the  schools ;  and  who,  more- 
over, with  their  silver  maces,  preceded  the  rector  in 
the  public  ceremonies.  At  Paris  there  were  fourteen 
beadles,  two  for  each  Nation  and  Faculty.  In  certain 
universities  the  beadles  seem  to  have  been  something 
more  than  mere  agents  for  material  services.  In 
Italy,  according  to  Coppi,  one  of  their  duties  was  to 
exercise  "a  secret  surveillance  over  the  private  con- 
duct of  the  professors."  ^ 

The  university  personnel  was  numerous,  as  may  be 
seen.  It  comprehended  also,  among  those  entitled  to 
the  privileges  of  the  university,  all  whose  industry  was 
necessary  to  the  carrying  on  of  the  studies :  book- 
sellers, paper  makers,  bookbinders,  parchment  makers, 
illuminators,  copyists,  etc.  In  Italy  the  stationarii 
were  required  to  furnish  the  students  with  all  the 
books  and  manuscripts  they  needed.  The  trade  in 
books  was  a  university  monopoly.  The  trade  of  the 
copyists,  who  put  the  lectures  of  the  professors  into 
circulation  among  the  students,  was  very  lucrative  and 
gave  employment  to  many  persons.  The  booksellers 
sometimes  abused  the  favorable  conditions  created  for 
them  by  the  scarcity  of  books,  and  in  1275  the  Uni- 
versity of  Paris  intervened  to  tax  at  four  deniers  the 
book,  their  right  of  brokerage.'' 

Finally,  a  word  must  be  said  concerning  the  messen- 

^  Coppi,  op.  cit.,  p.  161. 

2  "  When  printing  came  to  transform  and  renew  the  industry  of 
the  book  trade,  it  remained  none  tlie  less  under  the  protection  of  the 


GOVERNMENT  OF  UNIVERSITIES  133 

gers,  who,  at  the  beginning,  formed  a  part  of  the 
membership  (suppdts)  of  the  university.  There  is 
mention  of  the  nuntii  as  early  as  the  edict  of  Fred- 
erick Barbarossa,  in  1158.^  From  the  earliest  times 
the  University  of  Paris  appointed  messengers,  whose 
duty  it  was  to  carry  the  letters  of  the  students  to  the 
provinces  or  to  foreign  parts,  and  to  bring  back  the 
answers  and  the  money,  clothing,  and  other  things 
which  parents  wished  to  send  to  their  children. 
"But  the  insecurity  of  the  roads  at  the  time  often 
caused  interruptions  in  the  journeys  of  the  messengers. 
The  students  were  more  than  once  obliged  to  have 
recourse  to  the  citizens  of  Paris  in  order  to  procure 
what  they  needed.  The  citizens  profited  by  the  oc- 
casion to  claim  the  privileges  of  messengers.  The 
university  agreed  to  take  them  under  its  protection, 
and  thereupon  a  distinction  arose  between  the  great 
and  the  petty  messengers  of  the  university.^  The 
university  messengers  did  not  confine  their  labors  to 
the  service  of  the  masters  and  students,  moreover. 
They  gradually  extended  it  to  the  transportation  of 
letters  and  packages  for  private  persons ;  and  this  was 
the  origin  of  the  establishment  of  stage  coaches,  which 
formed  one  of  the  most  important  sources  of  the 
university  revenues.' 

university;  and  up  to  the  French  Revolution  the  libraires  jure's  of 
the  university  received  their  investiture  from  the  rector,  and  the 
Faculty  of  Theology  had  the  right  of  censorship  over  all  writings 
which  might  touch  upon  the  faith."  —  Vallet  de  Viriville,  Histoire 
de  V Instruction  piiblique,  p.  128. 

1  Frederick  accorded  the  privileges  granted  hy  this  charter,  "  tarn 
ipsis  scholaribus  quatn  eorum  nunciis." 

2  Caillet,  de  V Administration  en  France  sons  Richelieu,  1857,  p. 
443. 

«  At  the  outset  the  taxes  paid  by  the  petty  messengers,  that  is, 


134  ABELARD 

/  The  real  power,  in  the  universities  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  as  I  have  said,  was  not  in  the  hands  of  the 
dignitaries  I  have  just  enumerated.  It  remained 
either  in  the  general  assembly  {congregatio  generalis) 
\  of  the  university  or  in  the  individual  assemblies  of 
\  each  Faculty  and  Nation.  The  universities  were  es- 
sentially federated  republics,  the  government  of  which 
pertained  either  to  the  whole  body  of  the  masters,  as 
in  the  University  of  Paris,  which  was  a  university  of 
professors,  or  to  the  whole  body  of  the  students,  as  in 
the  democratic  University  of  Bologna,  which  was  a 
university  of  students.  The  rector  and  the  procura- 
tors were  mere  delegates,  charged  with  the  execution 
of  the  wishes  of  the  corporation.  "  They  had  no  in- 
clination," says  Crevier,  ''  to  transfer  the  rights  of  the 
body  to  its  heads." 

From  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century,  in  1289,' 
there  sat  in  the  general  council  of  the  University  of 
Paris,  the  rector,  who  presided,  the  procurators  of  the 
Nations,  and  the  deans  of  the  Faculties." 

Only  the  Superior  Faculties  had  each  its  dean, 
the  rector  being  the  special  head  of  the  Faculty  of 

by  the  letter  carriers  and  couriers,  accrued  either  to  the  procurator 
of  the  Nations,  the  rector,  or  to  the  deans  of  the  Faculties.  In  the 
seventeenth  century  the  stage  coach  service  became  a  public  one ; 
but  it  was  understood  that  a  part  of  the  proceeds  of  this  service 
would  remain  at  the  disposition  of  the  university,  which  used  them 
to  pay  a  salary  to  the  professors  of  the  colleges  of  the  Faculty  of 
Arts.  This  prepared  the  way  for  the  reform  of  1719,  the  year  when 
gratuitous  instruction  was  established. 

1  Crevier,  t.  ii,  p.  118. 

2  At  Bologua  the  deans  were  called  "  the  priors," 


GOVEENMENT  OF  UNIVERSITIES  135 

Arts.  In  1267  or  1268  there  occurs  for  the  jfirst  time 
in  the  acts  of  the  University  of  Paris,  mention  of 
the  deans  of  the  Faculty  of  Decrees  and  the  Faculty 
of  Medicine ;  in  1290,  of  the  dean  of  Theology,  who 
seems,  in  the  earliest  times,  to  have  been  the  same 
person  as  the  Chancellor  of  Notre  Dame.  In  the 
eighteenth  century,  when  Crevier  drew  up  the  list  of 
the  dignitaries  of  the  University  of  Paris,  the  deans 
were  regulated  thus  :  the  dean  of  the  Faculty  of  The- 
ology was  the  eldest  of  its  secular  professors ;  the 
Faculty  of  Law  chose  its  dean  yearly  from  its  profes- 
sors, following  the  order  of  seniority;  the  Faculty 
of  Medicine  alone,  since  1338,  had  had  an  elected  dean 
whose  official  term  lasted  two  years. 

The  deans  held  a  very  important  office.  They  were 
the  real  administrators  of  their  respective  Faculties. 
They  presided  in  the  assemblies  of  their  company, 
and  were  members  of  the  council  of  the  University. 

At  Paris,  the  professors  alone  composed  the  assem- 
blies of  the  Faculties.  It  was  necessary  to  be  a 
Master  of  Arts  to  be  a  member  of  the  Faculty  of 
Arts ;  and  a  professor,  to  take  part  in  the  delibera- 
tions of  the  other  Faculties.  "All  powers,"  says 
Thurot,  "were  concentrated  in  the  assemblies  of  the 
companies;  they  passed  the  regulations,  examined 
particular  requests,  and  nominated  directly  to  all  the 
offices.  .  .  .  Ordinarily  their  chiefs  could  decide  noth- 
ing without  having  taken  the  orders  of  the  company."  ^ 
It  was,  therefore,  the  special  councils  of  each  Superior 
Faculty,  and  of  the  four  Nations  assembled  in  the 
Faculty  of  Arts,  which  regulated  all  that  concerned 
1  Thurot,  op.  ciL,  p.  20. 


136  ABELARD 

discipline,  tlie  collection  and  employment  of  revenues, 
the  character  of  the  courses  and  discussions.  In  the 
Superior  Faculties  votes  were  cast  by  persons ;  in 
the_Faculty  of  Arts,  by  Nations. 

One  divines  the  part  reserved  to  the  general  assem- 
bly of  the  university,  a  sort  of  supreme  and  regulating 
council,  which  for  the  most  part  contented  itself  with 
confirming  the  decisions  of  the  companies  when  they 
were  submitted  to  it.  The  rector,  as  president,  pro- 
posed the  subject  of  discussion ;  then  each  of  the 
Companies  deliberated  separately ;  after  which  the 
j)rocurators  and  the  deans  reported  to  the  council, 

fi'hich  deliberated  on  them,  the  opinions  of  the  Na- 
ions  and  the  Faculties ;  and  the  rector  summed  up. 
itere  are  some  examples  of  the  decisions  arrived  at 
by  the  Assembly  of  the  University  :  in  1333,  abolition 
of  the  provinces  of  the  Nation  of  England;  in  1356, 
determination  of  the  limits  of  the  Nation  of  England 
and  the  Nation  of  Picardy ;  in  1389,  obligation  imposed 
on  bachelors  in  theology  to  sojourn  in  Paris  until 
their  licentiate.  In  all  of  these  matters  the  univer- 
sity did  hardly  more  than  intervene  to  give  additional 
weight  to  the  separate  resolutions  of  each  company. 
A  certain  number  of  questions,  however,  were  in  the 
exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the  great  council  of  the  Uni- 
versity :  all  those  which  related  to  the  common  privi- 
leges of  the  University,  and  to  the  violation  or  abuse 
of  these  privileges  ;  those,  also,  which  concerned  the 
industries  placed  under  its  protection,  such  as  book 
and  parchment  making. 

In  the  other  universities  we  shall  find,  with  certain 
variations,  the  same  system  of  self-government.     At 


GOVERNMENT   OF   UNIVERSITIES  137 

Prague  there  was  at  first  a  congregatio  universitatis, 
in  which  masters  and  students  had  equal  votes.  This 
was  the  primary  assembly.  Above  this  sat  a  special 
university  council  (concilium  universitatis)  composed 
of  eight  members,  two  from  each  Nation.  The  su- 
preme council,  under  the  authority  of  the  rector, 
became  the  directing  power  of  the  University  of 
Prague.  At  Cambridge,  the  internal  regulation  of 
the  education  and  of  the  degree  system  rested  practi- 
cally with  the  voting  masters,  in  spite  of  the  consid- 
erable prerogatives  conferred  on  the  Chancellor. 

It  is  permissible  to  say,  then,  that  in  the  heart  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  when  all  the  nations,  from  the  political 
point  of  view,  knew  as  yet  nothing  but  the  regime  of 
a  more  or  less  absolute  monarchy,  the  universities  had 
already  made  trial  of  liberty  in  their  internal  life :  they 
were  republics  of  letters  and  of  scientific  men  in  a  world 
still  boAved  down  under  the  domination  of  emperors 
and  kings.  Undoubtedly  they  depended  on  the  pontifi- 
cal authority  for  the  general  regulation  of  discipline 
and  the  progi'amme  of  studies.  It  was  the  papal  legates 
who  presided  at  all  the  reforms  of  the  University  of 
Paris,  in  1366  and  1452,  before  the  civil  authority  had 
laid  hands  upon  it,  under  Henry  IV,  in  1600.  But  in 
the  election  of  their  officers,  in  the  details  of  their 
organization,  in  the  daily  management  of  their  affairs 
and  their  interests,  the  universities  had  nevertheless 
a  vast  field  of  independent  action  before  them.  They 
were  the  first  bodies,  since  ancient  times,  to  exercise 
self-government,  and  thus  to  give  an  example  to  the 
statesmen  of  the  future.  I  do  not  deny  that  the 
liberty  they  enjoyed  had  its  excesses,  its  abuses,  and 


138  ABELARD 

also  its  weaknesses/  that  their  regime  was  sometimes 
anarchic ;  in  spite  of  all,  they  lived,  they  prospered. 

i  They  applied  successfully  a  system  of  government 
which  modern  peoples  are  more  and  more  tending  to 

.  extend,  not  simply  to  studies  and  scholastic  matters, 
but  to  the  whole  body  of  their  affairs  and  interests  of 

[every  kind.  Before  the  free  English  monarchy,  the 
University  of  Paris  had  been,  under  a  nominal  chief, 
the  rector,  an  example  of  representative  and  parlia- 
mentary government.  Before  the  modern  republics 
of  the  old  world  and  the  new,  the  University  of 
Bologna  had  made  trial  of  democratic  government. 

1  It  is  a  strange  thing  that  the  assemblies  of  Paris,  after  having 
been  only  too  tumultuous  and  disturbed  by  shouts  and  quarrelling, 
became  almost  deserted.  In  1417  it  was  asserted  that  while  not 
more  than  five  or  six  were  present  in  the  cloister  of  the  Mathurius 
(the  place  of  the  gatherings  of  the  Faculty  of  Arts),  not  fewer 
than  thirty  scholars  were  counted  at  the  same  moment  in  a  wine 
shop,  in  tubernis. 


CHAPTER   IV 

SYSTEM  OF  GRADUATION 

Examinations  and  grades  wholly  unknown  to  antiquity  —  Gradu- 
ation is  an  invention  of  the  MedifBval  Universities  —  Analogy 
with  the  apprenticeship  and  mastership  of  the  commercial 
guilds  —  Origin  of  university  degrees  —  Time  of  their  institu- 
tion—  The  licentia  docendi  —  The  right  of  conferring  degrees 
assumed  by  the  ecclesiastical  power  —  II.  The  three  university 
degrees:  bachelorship,  licentiateship, mastership  or  doctorship  — 
The  bachelor  —  Various  meanings  of  this  word  —  The  "  deter- 
minance  "  ;  first  trial  in  the  Faculty  of  Arts  —  The  bachelor  of 
arts,  of  theology,  of  medicine,  of  law  —  The  bachelorship  an 
apprenticeship  for  the  license  —  III.  The  licentiateship  —  Masters 
or  doctors — Various  procedures  of  the  faculties  of  arts,  of 
theology,  etc. — The  conferring  of  the  mastership  a  ceremony 
rather  than  an  examination  —  Forms  of  promotion  in  Bologna,  in 
Moutpellier —Considerable  expense  attending  the  promotions — 
Defects  and  abuses. 


If  it  be  true  that  there  is  good  ground  of  complaint 
at  present  against  the  multiplicity  of  examinations  ; 
if  the  objections  made  by  those  who  protest  against 
the  unreasonableness  of  competitions  and  the  infinite 
variety  of  diplomas  are  well  founded,  it  is  the  Middle 
Ages  which  must  be  held  responsible,  for  they  were 
the  first  culprits ;  it  is  the  universities  of  the  Middle  \ 
Ages  which  must  be  blamed,  for  they  were  the  in-  \ 
ventors  of  examinations  and  degrees.     In  Greek  and   \ 

139 


140  ABELARD 

/Roman  antiquity  there  is  no  trace  of  any  test  of 
capacity,  nor  even  of  any  conditions  whatsoever,  be- 
ing imposed  on  any  one  who  desired  to  teach.  Neither 
the  sophists  nor  the  philosophers  of  the  school  of 
Socrates  were  graduated.  Theirs  was  the  age  of  abso- 
ute  liberty  of  instruction.  It  is  true  that  Quiutilian, 
the  celebrated  professor  of  rhetoric,  was  pensioned  at 
Rome  by  Vespasian,^  but  he  had  no  greater  need  than 
his  contemporaries  of  a  degree  of  any  sort  to  justify 
him  in  keeping  school. 

It  is  in  an  edict  of  the  Emperor  Valentinian,  in  329, 
that  a  distinction,  though  still  a  vague  one,  is  drawn 
for  the  first  time  between  the  sophists  of  that  age, 
wandering  and  worthless  professors,  who,  it  was  said, 
having  no  right  to  teach,  ought  to  be  dismissed  and 
requested  to  vacate  the  premises,  and  the  masters 
who,  on  the  contrary,  being  held  in  esteem  by  com- 
petent men,  ought  to  be  distinguished  from  their 
rivals  and  authorized  to  teach. ^  It  is  none  the  less 
true  that  it  was  the  Middle  Ages  that  really  inaugu- 
rated a  system  of  graduation,  conferring  the  right  to 
teach  after  a  certain  term  of  studies  and  appropriate 
examinations. 
^^J^-  Laurie  has  made   the  clever  remark   that,  in 

V  instituting  their  degrees,  the  universities  were  merely 

\imitating  customs  already  established  in  the  indus- 

triaL  and  commercial  corporations.^     "  The  members 

of  a  guild  corporation  were  divided  into  three  distinct 

classes  —  apprentices,   assistants  or    companions,   and 

1".  .  .  e  flsco  salarium  acccpit."  See  my  Ilistoire  des  doctrines 
de  V Education,  t.  i,  p.  33. 

2  " .  .  .  exceptis  his  qui  a  probatissimis  npprobati  ab  hac  debu- 
erunt  colluvione  seccrni."  *  Laurie,  op.  cit.,  p.  215. 


SYSTEM  OF   GRADUATION  141 

masters.  These  assistants  were  in  France  frequently- 
called  gargons  or  compagnons  du  devoir.  The  assist- 
ants were  not  admitted  to  the  grade  of  '  master '  until 
they  had  performed  some  special  task  assigned  to 
them.  ...  It  was  only  if  this  chef-d^oeuvre  was 
found  satisfactory  that  they  were  installed  as  masters 
—  a  ceremony  which  was  generally  followed  by  a 
banquet.  The  gargon  who  obtained  his  mastership 
obtained  thereby  for  the  first  time  freedom  to  exer- 
cise his  trade,  or  craft,  and  all  the  rights  of  a  member 
of  the  guild." 

Is  not  this  a  very  exact  image  of  what  took  place 
in  the  university  corporations  when  it  was  understood 
that  in  order  to  become  a  master  of  arts,  and  have  the 
right  to  follow  the  profession  of  teaching,  one  must; 
have  spent  a  certain  number  of  years  on  the  benches  t 
of  a  school  and  have  passed  a  successful  examination  * 
before  competent  judges  ?  '''^-^^^^ 

It  is  manifest  that  the  universities  borrowed  from  j 
the  industrial  corporations  their  "companionships,"  ; 
their  "  masterships,"  and  even  their  banquets  ;  a  great . 
repast  being  the  ordinary  sequel  of  the  reception  of 
the  baccalaureate  or  doctorate.^  "     ' 

The  comparison  will  seem  even  more  just  when  one 
reflects  that  the  grades  were  not  what  the  bacca- 
laureate, for  example,  is  in  France  at  present,  — 
a  mere  evidence  of  successful  studies,  a  passport 
granted  to  those  who,  after  passing  regularly  through 

1  "  The  trial  for  the  mastership,  by  public  disputation  against  all 
comers  in  presence  of  the  other  masters,  was  analogous  to  the  chef- 
d'ceiivre  that  the  aspirant  to  the  mastership  of  a  craft  had  to  sub- 
mit to  the  judgment  of  the  jurors  of  his  craft."  Laurie,  op.  cit., 
p.  218. 


142  ABELARD 

the  classes  of  a  college,  seek  to  make  some  sort  of 
place  for  themselves  in  society.  The  grades,  the 
"degrees,"  were  then  professional  titles,  something 
like  the  different  orders  which  must  be  received  by 
an  ecclesiastic  before  arriving  at  the  priesthood. 
They  conferred  the  right  to  exercise  an  exclusive 
profession ;  like  the  Ucentia  docendi,  granted  very 
early  at  Paris,  without  examination,  moreover,  and 
without  much  care,  by  the  Chancellor  of  Notre  Dame ; 
or  like  the  Ucentia  medendi,  accorded  to  the  physicians 
of  Salerno  from  the  twelfth  century. 

It  is  impossible  to  fix  precisely  the  period  at  which 
the  system  of  degrees  began  to  be  organized.  Things 
were  done  slowly.  At  the  outset,  and  until  towards 
the  end  of  the  twelfth  century,  there  existed  nothing 
resembling  a  real  conferring  of  degrees  in  the  ris- 
ing universities.  In  order  to  teach,  it  was  sufficient 
to  have  a  respondent,  a  master  authorized  by  age  and 
knowledge.  Abelard  was  not  reproached  for  teaching 
without  a  degree,  but  for  teaching  without  a  master, 
sine  magistro.  So,  too,  at  Bologna,  Irnerius  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  the  pupil  of  any  one,  or  to  derive 
his  eminent  and  indisputable  learning  from  any  one 
except  himself.  This  was  the  time  when  a  pope, 
Alexander  III,  opposed  the  pretensions  of  the  bishops 
who  wished  to  have  the  right  of  conferring  the  license 
to  teach  reserved  exclusively  to  them  or  their  dele- 
gates, and  seemed  to  believe  that  the  teaching  faculty 
was  a  gift  of  God.  At  any  rate,  he  formally  forbade 
that  any  sum  of  money  should  be  required  from  the 
candidates  as  the  price  of  the  right  to  teach,  which 
was  granted  them,  and  he  required  that  "  any  capable 


SYSTEM  OF  GRADUATION  143 

and  instructed  man  "  {idoneus  et  lltteratus)  should  be 
authorized  to  keep  school.^ 

The  "license  to  teach,"  nevertheless,  became  by- 
slow  degrees,  as  masters  and  pupils  multiplied,  a  pre- 
liminary condition  of  teaching,  a  sort  of  diploma 
more  and  more  requisite,  and  of  which  the  bishops  or 
their  representatives,  chancellors  or  4coldtres,^  were 
the  dispensers.  Up  to  the  fourteenth  century  ther^^ 
was  hardly  any  other  clearly  defined  university  title : 
the  license  to  teach  law  or  medicine  at  Bologna  or 
Salerno,  where  law  and  medicine  were  still  the  only 
studies  in  vogue ;  the  license  to  teach  the  arts  and 
theology  at  Paris,  where  the  arts  and  theology  were 
still  in  ascendency. 

Originally,  the  license  was  conferred  without  an 
examination  on  whomever  was  held  to  possess  the 
necessary  aptitude.  By  degrees  greater  severity  was 
introduced,  principally  in  what  concerned  theology, 
the  popes  being  specially  interested  in  tlie  teaching  of 
it.  In  his  bull  of  1231,  Gregory  IX  recommended 
the  Chancellor  of  Paris  to  make  a  serious  investi- 
gation of  the  capacity  and  the  morals  of  aspirants 
for  professorshij)S :  "  Future  chancellors,"  said  he, 
"shall  sweiir  not  to  receive  as  professors  of  theology 
and  canon  law  any  but  worthy  men,  able  to  do  honor 
to  their  precepts,  and  they  shall  reject  all  who  are 
unworthy,  without  respect  either  to  persons  or  to 
nations.     Before  conferring  the  license,  the  chancellor 

1  Chartularium  Univ.  Paris.,  t.  I,  p.  5.  So,  also,  iu  the  Lateran 
Council  of  1179,  the  same  pope  said:  Nullus  quemquam,  qui  sit 
idoneus,  petita  licentia  interdicut  {Ibid.,  p.  10). 

2  Ecclesiastical  professors  who  taught  philosophy  aud  belles- 
lettres  iu  each  cathedral  school. 


144  ABELAKD 

shall  allow  three  months  to  elapse,  dating  from  the 
day  when  the  license  was  asked  for,  and  during  these 
three  months  he  shall  make  inquiries  of  the  professors 
of  theology  and  other  serious  and  instructed  persons, 
in  order  to  become  acquainted  with  the  life  and  man- 
ners, the  knowledge,  capacity,  love  of  study,  per- 
fectibility, and  other  qualities  needful  in  those  who 
aspire  to  teach ;  and,  these  inquiries  finished,  he 
shall  grant  or  refuse  the  license  according  to  his 
conscience."  * 

Gradual  progress  was  thus  being  made  toward  a 
regulation,  toward  a  system  of  examinations.  Condi- 
tions were  imposed  already.  Acting  professors  were 
consulted  as  to  the  merits  of  their  pupils.  Later  on, 
these  professors  will  examine  the  candidates,  and  sub- 
ject their  knowledge  and  their  abilities  to  established 
tests.  It  was  required  that  the  inquiry  intrusted  to 
the  chancellor  should  extend  over  three  months. 
Later,  it  will  be  from  the  candidates  themselves  that 
a  scholastic  probation,  and  evidence  of  a  certain  num- 
ber of  years  devoted  to  study,  will  be  required. 
\  At  the  beginning,  then,  the  "license  to  teach"  was 
I  neither  a  degree,  nor  an  examination.  In  any  case  it 
[was  the  sole  degree.^  True,  bachelors  ^  and  doctors, 
tHat  is,  as  it  seems,  students  and  professors,  were 
already  much  spoken  of ;  but  there  was  neither  a 
bachelorship  nor  a  doctorship.  "  Doctor  "  or  "  mas- 
ter "  meant  then  any  one  who  taught.     *'  Originally," 

1  Chartidariutn  Univ.  Paris.,  t.  i,  p.  237. 

2"A  degree,  originally,  was  a  license  to  teach."  Maiden,  On 
the  Origin  of  Universities,  London,  1849,  p.  112. 

8  In  the  hull  of  Gregory  IX  (12;J1),  there  is  already  question  of 
bachelors:  ".  .  .  qui  et  qua  horaet  quid  legere  debeant  bachellarii." 


SYSTEM  OF  GRADUATION  146 

says  Cvevier,  "the  terms  doctor  and  x^rofessor  were 
synonymous."  ^  There  were  dodores  jiiris  ^  at  Bo- 
logna from  the  twelfth  century,  and  from  the  thir- 
teenth dodores  medicince,  philosophice,  etc.,  but  all 
these  before  the  examinations  which  afterwards  gave 
a  right  to  these  titles  had  been  instituted.  In  other  / 
words,  "doctor"  and  "master"  were  expressions  em-; 
ployed  at  first  in  a  general  sense  before  taking  a  defi-| 
nite  signification  in  order  to  designate  the  degrees,' 
the  particular  grades  of  the  university  hierarchy.* 
It  was  altogether  natural,  in  fact,  that  he  who  Had 
obtained  the  license  to  teach  (licentia  docendi)  should 
be  called  dodor.  So,  too,  there  were  "  bachelors,"  that 
is,  apprentices,  beginners,  although  there  was  as  yet 
no  thought  of  establishing  an  examination  correspond- 
ing to  the  first  grade  of  studies,  and  although  there, 
was  nothing  that  resembled  what,  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  was  called  the  dderminance,  or  the  bachelor- 
ship. 

Another  peculiarity  of  these  somewhat  obscure  and 
confused  beginnings  of  the  graduation  system  is  that 
the  professors,  who  were  not  as  yet  formed  into  a 
regular  corporation,  a  Faculty,  exerted  a  merely  sec- 
ondary influence,  and  played  but  a  minor  part  in  the 
granting  of   licenses.      The  time  had  not  yet  come 

1  Crevier,  t.  v,  p.  149. 

2  Irnerius,  however,  is  styled  magister  and  domiiius,  but  not 
doctor. 

8  "In  the  early  days  of  the  school  of  Bologna,"  says  Savigny, 
"  the  expressions,  doctor,  mcKjister,  and  domintis  had  the  significa- 
tion of  professor.  These  titles  could  not  designate  an  oflice  or  a 
degree,  since  at  that  time  uothing  of  the  sort  existed." 


146  ABELARD 

when,  in  this  matter,  the  principle  would  prevail  that 
responsibility  ought  to  be  allied  to  competence ;  and 
that  academic  degrees  could  not  legitimately  be  con- 
ferred except  by  academic   bodies.      Originally  it  is*^ 
the  Church,  the  teaching  Church,  which  believes  that  ' 
it  alone  has  the  power  and  the  right  to  appoint  pro-;' 
fessors.     And  when,  later  on,  assailed  by  the  incessant  ! 
progress  of  university  autonomy,  the  Church  will  be  ' 
obliged  to  concede  this  right,  at  least  in  so  far  as  it  is 'i 
real  and  positive,  to  the  members  of  the  university!' 
the  chancellor  retaining  a  merely  nominal  authority, 
and  having  nothing  to  do  except  to  countersign  the 
diplomas  granted  by  the  Faculties — it  will  not  abdi- 
cate all  claims  upon  it.      In  1522,  and  in  1547,  we 
shall  see  the  popes  giving  to  their  legates,  by  formal 
bulls,  the  right   to  create  bachelors,  licentiates,  and 
doctors,    with   all    the   privileges   attached   to   these 
titles.^     Likewise,  in  1550,  we  shall  find  Julias  III 
granting  to  the  Society  of  Jesus  the  right  to  confer  de- 
grees upon  all  the  pupils  in  its  colleges.     But  in  tliese 
latter  cases,  the  Church  will  at  least  content  itself  with 
claiming  for  its  delegates,  or  for  a  favorite  and  espe- 
cially loved  congregation,  a  participation  in  a  privilege 
which  it  no  longer  dares  to  contest  with  the  enfran- 
chised and  all-powerful  universities.     Originally,  on 
tlie  contrary,  it  was  not  merely  a  part  but  the  totality 
of  the  academic  investitures  which  the  Church  claimed 
tlie  right  to  exercise,  and  whicli,  in  fact,  it  did  exer- 

iCrevier,  t.  v,  pp.  20i,  475.  The  University  of  Paris  protested 
energetically  moreover  against  tliese  bulls,  which  protest,  it  appears, 
remained  iueffectuaL 


SYSTEM  OF  GRADUATION  147 

cise.     "  In  the  thirteenth  century,"  says  M.  Germain, 
"  at  Montpellier,  as  at  Paris  and  Bologna  and  every-  1 
where  else,  degrees  were  conferred  under  the  auspices   i 
of  the  ecclesiastical  authority."  ^  ^  ) 

n 

When  the  different  Faculties  had  been  constituted  \ 
in  the  midst  of  the  university,  each  with  its  regular  \ 
course  of  studies  and  its  special  corps  of  professors, 
the  system  of  degrees  followed  naturally  from  the 
necessity  of  controlling  the  work  of  the  pupils,  of  clos- 
ing by  examinations  and  by  private  or  public  acts,  and 
of  celebrating  by  ceremonies,  the  successive  periods  of 
study.  Already,  in  preceding  centuries,  the  old  dis- 
tinction of  trivium  and  of  quadrivium  had  displayed  a 
tendency  to  mark  out  two  stages  in  the  study  of  the 
liberal  arts.  This  tendency  became  general.  Thence- 
forward there  were  several  degrees  in  each  Faculty, 
and  nearly  the  same  degrees,  with  the  same  names, 
in  all  the  Faculties.  The  professors  became  the 
judges  of  their  pupils,  and  recommended  to  the  chan- 
cellor, who  no  longer  had  anything  to  do  except  to 
record  their  decisions,  the  candidates  whom  they 
deemed  worthy  to  be  graduated. 

1  Germain,  ^tiide  historiqxie  sur  V4cole  de  droit  de  Montpellier, 
1877,  p.  10.  M.  Germain  cites  the  following  fact  in  corroboration : 
"In  1268,  the  King  of  Aragon,  James  I,  conceived  the  notion  of 
appointing  a  professor  of  civil  law,  in  his  capacity  as  seigneur  of 
Montpellier,  and  without  the  concurrence  of  the  Bishop  of  Mague- 
lonne.  The  latter  protested,  and  the  pope,  Clement  IV,  gave  judg- 
ment in  his  favor,  by  citing  a  canon  of  Eugenius  IV,  who  had 
invested  the  bishops  with  the  privilege  of  appointing  the  professors 
to  their  chaiia." 


148  ABELARD 

At  Paris — and  the  usages  established  at  Paris, 
except  in  the  case  of  certain  peculiarities  which  I 
shall  point  out  in  the  other  universities,  became  during 
the  course  of  the  fourteenth  century  the  general  rule 
—  three  degrees  were  distinguished,  the  bachelorship, 
the  licentiateship,  the  mastership  or  doctorship.^  To 
be  exact,  the  mastership  did  not  constitute  a  special 
degree, — the  mastership  was  merely  a  title,  the  con- 
sequence of  the  license  and  its  formal  consecration. 
"The  assumption  of  the  title  of  master  by  the  licen- 
tiate," says  Laurie  justly,  "  was  a  merely  ceremonial 
introduction  into  the  magistral  body." 

Let  us  begin  by  examining  the  first  of  these  three 
academic  degrees,  the  baccalaureate,  to  discover  its 
origin :  neither  the  word  nor  the  thing  is  as  clear  as 
it  might  be. 

Littrd  sets  forth  as  follows  the  various  significations 
of  the  word  bachelor :  "  In  its  primitive  sense,  the 
baccalarius  was  a  countryman  who  managed  a  certain 
number  of  *  manses,'  that  is,  of  estates.  The  name 
was  also  given  to  a  young  warrior  who  was  not  yet 
a  knight.  Then  there  were  bachelors  of  the  Church 
who  were  ecclesiastics  of  an  inferior  degree.  In  the 
trade  corporations  there  were  bachelors  called  juniores 
who  managed  the  minor  affairs  of  the  corporation. 
Finally,  and  from  the  same  current  of  thought,  sprang 
the  bachelors  of  the  Faculties."  * 

1 "  Tlio  grades,  steps,  or  degrees  were  nominally  four,  actually 
three,  viz.,  bachelor,  licentiate  or  master,  finally  doctor."  (Laurie, 
op.  cit.,  p.  228.)  It  would  be  more  exact  to  say :  bachelor,  licentiate, 
finally  master  or  doctor. 

2  Littr^,  Dictionnaire  de  la  langue  fratviaise,  on  the  word  Bache- 
lier. 


SYSTEM  OF  GRADUATION  149 

"Bachelor,"  then,  was  a  very  general  term,  whose  j 
different  uses  were  justified  by  the  fact  that  it  was 
always  applied  to  an  inferior,  a  beginner,  an  apprentice,  i 
It  was  thus  that  the  word,  in  growing  still  more  com- 
mon, became  the  synonym  for  a  young  man  who  was 
serving  his  apprenticeship  in  life.^  So,  too,  a  "bach- 
elette  "  was  a  young  girl.  

Introduced    into    scholastic    language,    the    word  ': 
"bachelor"  was  at  first  employed  only  to  designate  } 
the  youngest  students,  those  aspiring  to  the  licentiaifi^J 
Even  when  a  real  examination,  the  diterminance,  had 
been  instituted  as  the  preliminary  test  imposed  on 
students  of  the  Faculty  of  Arts,  it  did  not  at  once 
become  customary  to  give  this  examination  the  name 
of  baccalaureate,'^  and  not  until  the  fifteenth  century 
do  we  find  the  word  "  bachelor  "  plainly  used  to  desig- 
nate a  student  who  had  successfully  undergone  the 
trial  of  the  determinance. 

The  dkerminance  was,  then,  the  first  form  of  the 
bachelorship  of  arts.  It  was  regularly  established  at 
Paris  from  1275.  In  what  did  it  consist  ?  Deter- 
minare,  in  the  barbarous  Latin  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
was  to  posit  a  thesis,  to  argue  a  question,^  to  explain 
a  logical  term  or  proposition,  and  to  reply  to  objec- 

1  Finally,  all  celibates  came  to  be  called  bachelors,  ..."  qui 
non  habent  uxorem."  In  English  the  word  still  retains  this  sig- 
nification. 

2  "The  determinants  or  bachelors  were  not  granted  regular 
diplomas.  The  Nation  merely  sent  them  certificates  of  their  degree  " 
(Thurot,  op.cit.,  p.  48). 

'  The  complete  expression  was  determinare  quiestionem.  Crevier 
defines  the  "  determinance  "  as  a  public  act  in  which  the  candidates 
for  bachelorship  explained  in  a  consecutive  discourse  some  questiou 
of  logic  (CreTier,  t.  i,  p.  398) . 


160  ABELARD 

tions.  There  was  as  yet  no  question  of  written  exer- 
cises, of  essays,  to  be  composed  on  a  given  subject. 
The  teaching  of  the  Middle  Ages  was  altogether  oral ; 
the  great  scholastic  exercise  was  debate,  discussion. 
And  notwithstanding  the  modifications  it  underwent 
during  the  course  of  centuries,  the  determinance, 
or  test  for  the  bachelorship,  remained,  after  the  pat- 
tern of  the  studies  which  it  assumed,  an  argumen- 
tation, a  disputatio  more  formal  than  the  others.  It 
took  place  under  the  superintendence  of  one  or  more 
professors  and  in  presence  of  the  other  students.  It 
was,  moreover,  an  internal  examination,  so  to  speak, 
and  the  title  to  which  it  gave  a  right  did  not  need  to 
be  sanctioned  by  the  chancellor. 

Certain  conditions  were  imposed  upon  the  candi- 
dates who  desired  to  sustain  the  determinance:  they 
must  be  at  least  fourteen  years  of  age ;  have  pursued 
a  course  of  logic  during  two  years,  etc.  We  shall  see, 
moreover,  over  what  books  this  course  of  logic  ranged.^ 
M.  Thurot  maintains  that  this  semi-domestic  test  of 
the  determinance  was  "of  easy  access."  I  do  not 
absolutely  deny  this.  It  is,  nevertheless,  certain  that 
a  youth  of  fourteen  or  fifteen  needed  a  good  deal  of 
strength  of  mind  to  undertake  a  public  argumentation, 
prolonged  through  several  days,  before  an  audience 
which  was  sometimes  imposing,  the  professors  of  the 
Superior  Faculties  and  ecclesiastical  dignitaries  being 
invited  to  be  present  at  it.  "  The  determinant,"  says 
Thurot,  "  was  obliged  to  argue  every  day  during  Lent, 
or,  when  for  the  Lenten  discussions  were  substituted 

1  See  Part  III,  chap.  L 


SYSTEM  OF  GRADUATION  161 

those  of  Christmas,  during  an  entire  month."  ^  The 
ditei'minance^  properly  so  called,  was  followed,  more- 
over, by  a  real  examination ;  that  is,  by  interrogatories 
bearing  on  logic  again,  and  on  grammar,  and  which 
was  conducted  by  examiners  who  had  been  grad- 
uated at  least  three  years,  and  were  elected  by  the 
Nations.  The  minor  university  title,  the  bachelor- 
ship, was  not,  after  all,  such  an  easy  thing  to  win; 
and  I  should  be  disposed  to  agree  on  this  point  with 
Mr.  Laurie :  "  If  we  keep  in  mind,"  he  says,  "  the 
youth  of  the  candidates,  the  want  of  books,  and  the 
method  of  teaching,  we  shall  be  satisfied  that  even 
this  minor  degree  marked  the  conclusion  of  a  period 
of  hard  and  sustained  work.  There  was  no  food  for^^ 
the  mind,  but  there  was  a  great  deal  of  severe  disci-  \ 
pline  of  the  memory  and  intellect."  *  — ' 

Originally  established  in  the  Faculty  of  Arts,  the 
baccalaureate  was  afterwards  extended  to  the  other 
Faculties  under  special  forms  and  conditions.  Thu^ 
the  baccalaureate  in  theology  implied  three  series  of 
examinations.  To  enter  the  first,  it  was  needful  to 
be  twenty-five  years  old,  to  have  studied  for  ten  years, 
and  to  be  neither  a  bastard  nor  deformed.  The  candi- 
dates were  examined  on  the  principles  of  theology, 
and  restricted,  besides,  to  lectures  on  the  Bible  and  to 

1  The  details  of  the  regulations  of  the  test  of  the  d^terminance 
were  frequently  modified.  Toward  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, it  was  preceded  by  a  private  examination  intended  to  serve  as 
a  first  selection  .and  elimination  from  the  formal  trial  of  candidates 
esteemed  incapable.  The  time  of  the  public  dispute,  which  at  first 
took  place  during  Lent,  was  in  the  fifteenth  century  fixed  between 
St.  Martin's  Feast,  Nov.  11,  and  Christmas. 

2  Laurie,  op.  cit.,  p.  274. 


152  ABELAED 

argumentations.  They  were  called  biblici  ordinarii  et 
cursores.  The  conditions  for  the  second  part  of  the 
baccalaureate  were  that  one  must  have  studied  nine 
years,  have  given  two  courses  on  the  Bible,  and  two 
conferences,  or  a  sermon  and  a  conference,  in  order  to 
make  proofs  of  a  talent  for  preaching,  and,  finally,  to 
sustain  an  argumentation  called  tentative;  after  which 
the  candidate  was  authorized  to  read  Peter  Lombard's 
Book  of  the  Sentences;  finally,  the  bachelors  of  this 
second  category,  who  were  called  the  Sententiarii,  when 
they  had  finished  their  course  on  the  Sentences,  be- 
came baccalarii  formati,  which  was  the  last  step  to  be 
taken  before  presenting  themselves  for  the  license.^ 

The  Faculties  of  Civil  and  of  Canon  Law,  and  the 
Faculties  of  Medicine  had  their  bachelors  also.  At 
Bologna  the  "  bachelor,"  of  whom  no  mention  is  made 
until  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  was  a  law 
student  who  had  followed  the  lectures  of  professors 
during  several  years,  and  who  had  been  authorized  to 
direct  the  extraordinary  courses  which  were  called  repe- 
titions. For  bachelor  of  medicine,  five  years  of  pre- 
liminary studies  were  required  at  Paris.  The  exami- 
nation was  not  public.  For  canon  law,  again  at  Paris, 
preliminary  evidence  of  attainments  in  grammar  and 
in  logic  was  required ;  but  it  was  not  necessary,  as  one 
might  be  tempted  to  suppose,  to  produce  a  diploma  as 
bachelor  of  arts,  which  sufficiently  proves  that  the  vari- 
ous baccalaureates  were  internal  examinations  peculiar 
to  each  order  of  Facilities,  and  giving  no  rights  in  the 
others.  Originally  it  was  necessary  to  prove  in  addi- 
tion that  one  had  studied  civil  law  for  three  years 
1  See  Part  III,  chap.  ii. 


SYSTEM   OF  GRADUATION  163 

in  another  university  (civil  law  not  being  taught  at 
Paris).  This  condition,  suppressed  by  Innocent  VI, 
was  replaced  by  the  requirement  that  canon  law  should 
have  been  studied  during  forty-eight  months  within 
a  period  of  six  years.  These  proofs  having  been 
supplied,  the  candidate  had  to  submit  to  an  examina- 
tion ;  and  afterwards  to  accomplish  two  public  acts 
called  propositum  and  Jiarenga.  The  propositum  was 
a  decision  grounded  on  one  or  two  juridical  questions ; 
the  harenga  was  a  discourse,  an  "  harangue,"  in  honor 
of  canon  law.  The  Faculties  of  Civil  Law  exacted 
similar  proofs  and  conditions. 

It  results  from  the  foregoing  remarks,  that  in  all 
the  faculties  there  was  a  baccalaureate,^  or  first  term 
of  studies,  sanctioned  by  appropriate  examinations. 
This  baccalaureate  was  really  a  degree,  notwithstand- 
ing Thurot,  who  declares  that  it  was  simply  "  a  state, 

1  I  shall  not  run  the  risk  of  taking  sides  between  the  different 
explanations  proposed  for  the  etymology  of  the  word  "baccalau- 
reate." Vallet  de  Viriville  claims  that  it  is  derived  from  baculvm 
(bd(on)  by  an  analogy  drawn  from  the  contests  in  which  young 
soldiers  were  exercised.  Littre  also  admits  that  its  origin  must  be 
sought  in  the  word  bacidum,  but  he  traces  the  filiation  differently. 
"  It  is  not  an  altogether  unlikely  conjecture,"  says  he,  "  to  suppose 
that  the  word  baton,  piece  of  wood,  became  a  bacheleric,  a  sort  of 
rural  domain."  We  have  already  seen  that  to  Littre  the  primitive 
signification  of  "bachelor"  was  the  manager  of  a  rural  domain. 
Laurie  suggests  another  explanation  which  to  us  appears  wholly 
fantastic.  "The  original  of  the  word  seems  to  have  been  bacca- 
larius,  and  this  is  said  to  be  derived  from  the  low  Latin  bacca  (for 
vacca),  a  cow.  Accordingly  it  originally  meant  a  cowboy  or  herd 
serving  a  farmer."  In  any  case,  it  is  quite  certain  that  we  must 
reject  as  devised  too  late  and  devoid  of  serious  foundation,  that 
etymology  by  which  the  word  barcnlm-iits,  become  baccalaureus, 
was  supposed  to  have  connection  with  the  laurel  berry. 


154  ABELARD 

the  apprenticeship  of  the  mastership  " ;  a  grade,  how- 
ever, which  might  be  said  to  make  one  with  the 
immediately  superior  degree,  the  license,  a  degree 
conferred  by  the  faculties  without  the  intervention 
of  the  chancellor.  To-day,  in  France  at  least,  in  the 
Faculties  of  Letters  and  Sciences,  the  bachelors  usu- 
ally consider  the  gaining  of  the  diploma  of  the  bac- 
calaureate as  a  definitive  act  which  concludes  their 
studies.  The  bachelor  of  the  Middle  Ages,  on  the 
contrary,  was  only  an  apprentice  who  aspired  to  the 
license  and  the  mastership.  It  was  said  of  the  bach- 
elor of  arts  that  incipiehat  in  artibus.  The  bachelors 
took  part  in  the  instruction  given  in  their  respec- 
tive faculties;  they  pursued  courses  then  called 
extraordinary,  now  complementary,  and  which  were 
added  to  the  regular,  or  ordinary,  courses  taught 
by  licentiates  and  doctors.  The  bachelors,  then,  did 
professional  work ;  they  already  practised,  under  the 
direction  of  masters,  the  instruction  they  intended  to 
give.  "  The  bachelorship,"  says  Laurie,  "  had  a  pro- 
spective rather  than  a  retrospective  significance ;  that 
is  to  say,  it  did  not  so  much  mark  a  course  finished  as 
*  inception  in  arts,'  with  a  view  to  a  mastership."  ^ 

1  At  Oxford  and  at  Cambridge  matters  were  regulated  in  much 
the  flame  way,  with  possibly  still  greater  precision.  Four  years' 
study  was  required  before  the  (Utcrminance.  Moreover,  there  were 
special  and  sufticiently  odd  titles  given  to  express  the  different 
degrees  of  the  scholastic  term ;  for  example,  the  student  who  could 
present  himself  as  a  public  disp\itatit  was  called  sophister  generalis. 
The  candidate  for  the  baccalaureate  who  was  called  the  qtiestionist, 
before  determinare  quasstionrm,  must  respondere  ad  quxsiionem. 
See  Mullinger  for  all  these  details,  op.  cit.,  p.  354. 


SYSTEM  OF  GRADUATION  155 

III 

If,  as  we  have  seen,  the  licentiate  was  the  first  aca- 
demic degree  established  in  the  order  of  time,  it  re- 
mained, even  when  the  custom  of  preceding  it  by  the 
baccalaureate  had  been  confirmed,  the  degree  par  ex- 
cellence, the  most  serious,  the  most  important  exam- 
ination, and,  in  certain  Faculties,  the  only  serious  and 
important  one ;  the  mastership  and  the  doctorate  were 
but  its  natural  consequence  and  consecration.^  J 

The  masters  of  arts  at  Paris  seem  to  have  taken  part 
for  the  first  time,  in  1213,  in  the  conferring  of  the  li- 
centiate's degree.     Six  of  them,  three  chosen  by  thQJLf^ 
colleagues  and  three  by  the  chancellor,  presented  the 
candidates  to  the  latter,  attesting  by  an  oath  taken 
with  their  hands  on  the  Gospels,  that  the  aspirants 
merited  the  degree.     Evidently  they  could  not  make 
this  declaration  until  they  had  ascertained  the  capac- 
ity of  the  candidates  by  a  preliminary  examination. 
The  manner  of  this  examination  was  often  modified, 
and  I  cannot  hope  to  describe  its  successive  and  vary- 
ing forms.     As  in  the  case  of  the  baccalaureate,  there  1 
were  antecedent  conditions,  —  to  be  twenty -one  years  1 
of  age,  unmarried,  to  have  passed  the  dHerminance,  '• 
either  at  Paris  or  some  university  which  possessed 
a  determinate  number   of   regents,   etc.     There  was 
some    wisdom    in    these    precautions    taken    by   the 
Middle  Ages   in   order   to   prove  that  the  aspirants 

i"The  mastership,"  says  Thurot,  "was  to  the  licentiateship 
wliat  the  wedding  party  is  to  the  nuptial  l>enediction  ;  a  ceremony 
celebrated  in  honor,  and  on  occasion  of,  the  Sacrament  that  has 
just  been  received." 


156  ABELARD 

for  degrees  ha£  pursued  a  regular  course  of  studies ; 

but  the  rules  too  often  remained  a  dead  letter.     The 

examination  itself  took  place  in  the  presence  of  the 

chancellor,  assisted  by  various  examiners  chosen  by 

him.^     It  was  not  public,  but  what  was  then  called 

an  examination  in  cameris.    Nevertheless,  at  certain 

ijeriods,  the  candidate  was  obliged  to  give  a  public 

Y  lecture.     The   examination   was   on   grammar,   logic, 

I  Aristotle's  physics  and  morals,  and  also,  as  it  appears, 

;_on  the  elements  of  mathematics  and  astronomy.*^    It 

must  not  be  forgotten,  either,  that  the  bachelors,  as 

real  apprentices,  must  at  once  practise  teaching  and 

give  lessons  to  those  of  their  younger  comrades  who 

were  aspiring  to  the  baccalaureate. 

In  his  opuscule  entitled  De  Conscientia,  Robert  de 
Sorbon  ^  has  given  the  most  precise  details  concerning 
the  examinations  undergone  by  the  candidates  for  the 
licentiate.  The  candidate,  already  a  bachelor,  sought 
the  chancellor,  and  received  from  him  a  book  upon 
which  he  was  to  be  interrogated ;  he  carried  it  away 
with  him,  read  it  over,  and  then  "  noted  and  studied 
the  questions  wherein  difficulties  might  be  encoun- 
tered." Thus  prepared,  he  returned  to  ask  for  a  day 
on  which  he  might  be  examined.  He  then  made  his 
appearance  before  a  jury  composed  of  the  chancellor 
and  several  doctors,  who  made  him  debate  the  sub- 

1  There  were  differences,  moreover,  between  the  examinations 
held  before  the  Chancellor  of  Notre  Dame  and  those  that  passed  in 
presence  of  the  Chancellor  of  Ste.  Genevieve.    See  Thurot,  p.  53. 

2  The  rules  enacted  at  the  time  of  the  reforms  of  1366  and  of  1452 
added  metaphysics  also. 

«  On  Robert  de  Sorbon,  see  Part  III,  chap.  ii. 


SYSTEM  OF   GRADUATION  157 

ject ;  they  admitted  him  if  he  succeeded ;  if  not,  they 
put  him  back  for  a  year. 

The  licentiate  was  conferred  in  nearly  the  same  way 
in  the  other  Faculties.  But  the  licentiates  were  less 
numerous ;  in  the  Faculty  of  Theology,  for  instance, 
the  conferring  of  the  licentiate's  degree  took  place 
every  two  years,  in  the  year  called  the  JuhiU.  It  was 
the  same  in  the  Faculties  of  Decrees  and  of  Medicine. 

After  the  chancellor  had  conferred  the  licentiates^ 
ship  in  arts,  adding  to  it  the  apostolic  benediction, 
the  new  licentiate  had  to  be  accepted  by  the  masters 
in  arts,  in  a  sort  of  ceremony  which  properly  consti- 
tuted the  act  of  conferring  the  mastership.  He  pre- 
sented himself  in  the  first  place  before  the  rector, 
promising  to  respect  the  statutes  of  the  university, 
taking,  in  a  word,  an  oath  of  university  loyalty. 
Then,  on  a  fixed  day,  he  went  in  great  pomp  to  the  i 
schools  of  his  nation,  in  the  rue  du  Fouarre,  and  | 
there  received  the  master's  cap,  the  doctor's  cap, 
from  the  master  under  whose  direction  he  had  pre- 
pared and  undergone  his  examination  for  the  licen- 
tiate. 

The  mastership  in  arts  was,  in  fact,  equivalent  to] 
the  doctorate.  It  was  the  highest  title  in  this  order  I 
of  studies.  It  gave  those  invested  with  it  the  right  | 
to  sit  in  professorial  chairs.  The  appellation  of  doctor  I 
in  arts  was,  it  seems,  never  customary  in  Paris. 

The  title  of  master  and  that  of  doctor  were  neverT^ 
for  that  matter,  clearly  distinguished  throughout  the  j 
Middle  Ages,  even  in  the  superior  Faculties.     In  the 
University  of  Paris  as  in   that  of  Bologna,  for  the 
theologians,  the  jurists,  and  the  physicians,  there  was 


158  ABELARD 

a  series  of  public  examinations,  or,  at  least,  a  series  of 
ceremonies  conducted  with  the  most  extreme  formality, 
Avhich  followed  the  licentiate  and  terminated  the  stu- 
dent life  in  order  to  give  access  to  the  professorial 
career.  This  ensemble  of  acts  was  sometimes  called 
the  mastership  and  sometimes  the  doctorate.^ 
J  "Xt  Paris,  mastership  in  the  superior  Faculties  ad- 
I  mitted  of  even  more  formality,  and  especially  more 
solemnity,  than  mastership  in  arts ;  it  pre-supposed 
liTiree  successive  acts,  called  by  different  names  ac- 
cording to  the  Faculties,'  in  which  argumentations  and 
discourses  alternated  with  ceremonies  and  rites  hav- 
ing an  almost  religious  character.  It  does  not  appear 
that  mastership,  at  Paris,  gave  occasion  for  awarding 
a  special  diploma.  At  Bologna  it  was  otherwise ;  and 
Savigny  affirms  that  diplomas  were  given  there  for 
the  licentiate  as  well  as  for  the  doctorate.  At  Prague, 
the  title  of  master  was  employed  for  the  Faculties  of 
Arts  and  of  Theology ;  the  title  of  doctor  for  law  and 
medicine.  At  Bologna,  in  the  fourteenth  century  the 
law  students  underwent  two  sorts  of  examinations 
which,  moreover,  succeeded  each  other  very  closely,'' 
a  private  examination  which  resulted  in  the  licentiate ; 
and  a  public  one  which  resulted  in  the  doctorate.     In 

1  Tlic  title  of  doctor  was  especially  customary  in  the  Faculties  of 
Law.  At  Bologna  the  professors  of  law  regarded  it  as  their  exclu- 
sive property. 

^  These  acts  for  the  mastership  in  theology  were  called  vesperies, 
aulique,  and  resompte ;  for  the  mastership  in  medicine,  vesperies, 
principiiim,  and  pustillaire. 

8  Savigny  cites  the  example  of  a  licentiate  of  Bologna  who  did 
not  pass  his  examin<ation  for  tlio  doctorate  until  ten  years  after 
taking  his  license  :  it  was  a  rare  e.vceptiou. 


SYSTEM  OF   GRADUATION  159 

the  first  of  these,  two  texts  (or  themes)  of  Roman  law 
and  two  of  Canon  law  were  assigned  to  the  candidate. 
The  jury  was  composed  of  three  doctors  who  ques- 
tioned the  candidate  or  argued  against  him.  They 
were,  said  the  regulations,  to  treat  the  candidate 
paternally,  under  penalty  of  a  year's  suspension.  The 
second  test,  which  was  more  solemn,  was  called  the 
conventus;  it  most  frequently  took  place  in  the  cathe- 
dral, but  sometimes  within  the  school.  There,  the 
licentiate,  a  candidate  for  the  doctorship,  delivered  a 
discourse  and  maintained  a  thesis  in  law.  None  but 
students  argued  against  him.  Then  the  archdeacon 
of  Bologna  or  a  doctor  delegated  by  him,  proclaimed 
the  new  doctor.  He  was  given  the  insignia  of  his 
dignity,  the  book,  the  ring,  and  the  doctor's  cap,  and 
was  made  to  seat  himself  in  a  chair.^  There  were, 
besides,  three  categories  of  doctors :  in  Roman  law, 
in  Canon  Law,  or  both  Roman  law  and  Canon  law 
at  the  same  time. 

Things  were  conducted  in  much  the  same  way  at 
Montpellier.  In  the  fourteenth  century  one  became 
a  doctor  of  law  there  in  this  wise :  "  The  licentiate," 
says  M.  Germain,  "  according  to  the  statutes  of  1339, 
then  led  necessarily  to  the  doctorate,  and  in  some 
fashion  made  one  thing  with  it;  for  it  involved,  in 
an  express  manner,  the  authorization  to  perform  all 
the  doctorial  acts,  licentia  omnes  actus  doctorates  agendi. 
The  licentiate  was  the  really  serious  degree.     All  be- 

1  Savigny,  op.  cit.,  chap.  xxi.  At  Bologna,  as  at  Paris,  the  students 
were  obliged  to  give  evidence  of  a  certain  number  of  years  passed 
in  study.  Ten  years  were  necessary  to  become  a  canonist,  and  eight 
to  become  a  civilian. 


160  ABELARD 

yond  it  was  purely  ceremonial.  The  prior  of  the 
doctors  (the  eldest,  or  the  elected  chief)  convoked 
the  entire  university  in  the  church  of  St.  Firmin  to 
confer  the  licentiate.  The  candidate,  inquiries  having 
been  made  concerning  his  morals,  his  birth,  and  his 
capacity,  drew  by  lot,  at  daybreak,  in  a  book  of  civil 
or  of  canon  law,  the  subject  of  his  theses,  and  that 
very  day  between  Nones  and  Vespers,  after  but  a  few 
hours  of  preparation,  he  went  to  defend  them  in  the 
bishop's  hall,  in  the  house  or  palace  ordinarily  inhab- 
ited at  Montpellier  by  the  Bishop  of  Maguelonne. 
The  soutenance  was  an  imposing  affair.  All  the  doc- 
tors of  the  faculty  must  be  present  and  take  an  active 
part  in  it,  in  presence  of  the  bishop  or  his  delegate. 
When  it  was  over  they  handed  in  their  notes  and  pro- 
nounced a  judgment  in  accordance  with  which  the 
candidate  was  either  admitted  or  adjourned.  If  he 
was  adjourned  for  incapacity  he  was  informed  of  it 
secretly  in  such  a  way  as  to  spare  him  all  confusion. 
If,  on  the  conti-ary,  he  passed,  he  was  publicly  pro- 
claimed doctor,  and  by  virtue  of  this  decision,  he 
might  take  the  doctor's  cap  when  and  where  he  chose, 
either  at  Montpellier  or  at  any  other  university.  If 
he  immediately  decided  for  Montpellier,  the  ceremony 
of  his  reception  was  at  once  proceeded  with.  The 
bell  of  the  university  summoned  masters  and  students 
into  the  church  of  Notre  Dame  des  Tables  for  that 
purpose.  The  recipient  went  thither  escorted  by  his 
friends ;  and  there,  in  the  midst  of  a  throng  anxious 
to  do  him  honor,  he  commented  on  the  text  of  a  law  or 
a  decree ;  after  which  the  president  again  interrogated 
the  doctors  on  his  capacity,  and  admitted  him  to  take 


SYSTEM   OF  GRADUATION  161 

the  oath.  The  oath  taken,  he  granted  him  the  right 
to  read,  to  teach,  to  instruct,  in  a  word,  to  fulfil  all 
the  doctorial  functions  at  Montpellier  or  elsewhere, 
conformably  to  the  constitution  of  Pope  Nicholas  IV. 
Then  the  doctor  whom  the  recipient  had  chosen  as 
sponsor  conferred  on  him  the  insignia  of  the  doctor- 
ate, gave  him  investiture  by  the  chair,  the  book,  the 
cap,  the  kiss  or  the  accolade,  and  the  benediction.^ 

Complexity,  as  one  sees,  was  not  lacking  in  the 
form  of  the  examinations  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Never 
was  beheld  such  a  profusion  of  formalities,  pompous 
ceremonials,  solemn  engagements  and  oaths,  private 
and  public  argumentations,  discourses  and  harangues. 
Never,  moreover,  did  it  cost  more  to  obtain  degrees, 
especially  the  higher  degrees.  To  arrive  at  the  doc- 
torate, particularly,  one  needed  to  be  actually  rich, 
rich  in  money  still  more  than  in  knowledge.  At  Sal^r 
manca,  to  intrigue  for  the  honors  of  the  doctorate, 
one  of  the  formalities  required  from  the  candidate 
was  to  defray  the  expenses  of  a  brilliant  corrida  de 
toros.  Elsewhere,  and  almost  everywhere,  it  was  a 
question  of  paying  for  sumptuous  banquets.  At  Bo- 
logna, the  doctor-candidate  had  to  furnish  clothing 
for  a  large  number  of  persons.  Savigny  relates  that, 
in  1299,  when  the  promotion  was  refused  to  Viane- 
sius,  whose  fault  was  that  of  not  being  related 
to  the  doctors  whose  duty  it  Avas  to  receive  him, 
he  had  already  spent  five  hundred  livres  in  buy- 
ing scarlet  cloth  for  pelisses.  In  1311,  Pope  Clem-1 
ent  V  decreed  that  the  candidate  should  swear  not 

1  Germain,  ^titde  historique  sur  I'^^cole  de  Droit  de  Montpellier, 
1877,  p.  26. 


162  ABELARD 

to  expend  more  than  five  hundred  livres  for  his  pro- 
motion,^ 

ihe  baccalaureate  and  the  licentiate  were  evidently 
not  so  costly  as  the  doctorate,  that  actus  triumphalis 
of  graduation.  But  for  these  degrees  also  there  was 
considerable  expense  for  display.  It  has  been  said 
that  in  France  everything  ends  in  song ;  in  the  uni- 
versities of  the  Middle  Ages  everything  began  and 
vended  with  banquets.  A  banquet  before  and  after 
the  dkerminance ;  a  banquet  after  the  license;  a  ban- 
quet after  each  act  of  the  mastership ;  banquets  always 
and  everywhere.  And  these  banquets  sometimes  as- 
sembled the  whole  Faculty,  all  the  masters  in  arts,  all 
the  licentiates.  Ramus  complained,  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  that  of  the  nine  hundred  livres  which  medical 
studies  cost,  three  hundred  were  devoted  to  banquets. 

rBut,  aside  from  the  extraordinary  expenses  entailed 
by  feasts  and  rejoicings,  there  was  also  a  fixed  tariff 
Lfor  the  examinations.  The  Nations  were  paid,  the 
Faculties,  the  beadles,  the  examiners,  even  the  Chan- 
cellor himself  was  paid.  Sometimes  wine  and  spices 
were  distributed  to  the  examiners.  There  were  plenty 
of  regulations  declaring  that  the  licentiate's  degree 
must  be  conferred  gratuitously  ;  it  was  forbidden,  for 
example,  to  receive  anything  from  the  candidate  but 
four  sous  for  the  grass  or  straw  strewn  over  the  floors 
of  tlie  examination  halls  by  the  beadles,  —  straw  in 
winter,  grass  in  summer.  But  these  prohibitions 
were  constantly  violated.     In  1424,  in  the  Nation  of 

1  "To  arrive  at  the  title  of  master,"  says  Tlmrot,  "a  man  ex- 
pended his  patrimony  and  exhausted  the  purse  of  his  friends ;  he 
often  remained  in  debt  and  needy  for  the  rest  of  his  life." 


SYSTEM   OF   GRADUATION  163 

England,  at  Paris,  it  was  customary  to  give  half  a 
franc  for  the  d4te7irninance  ;  for  the  baccalaureate,  when 
one  repaired  to  the  schools  of  the  rue  de  Fonarre, 
four  sous ;  for  the  examination  itself,  two  sous ;  for 
the  license,  one  franc,  etc.  The  Faculties  of  decrees 
and  of  medicine  in  the  Paris  University  seem  to 
have  been  those  in  which  the  expenses  of  examination 
were  greatest;  the  student  in  canon  law  gave  four 
sous  to  each  doctor-regent  on  the  day  of  the  harangue ; 
the  licentiate  offered  repasts  to  the  doctors,  and  paid 
for  their  wine  while  the  examination  lasted.  So,  too, 
the  medical  student,  at  the  time  he  received  the 
mastership,  paid  ten  gold  crowns  to  the  president,  and 
gave  caps  and  gowns  to  all  the  master-regents. 

But  it  was  not  alone  these  fiscal  abuses,  these  exor 
bitant  expenses  which  vitiated  the  system  of  examina- 
tions in  the  universities  of  the  Middle  Ages.  WhatJ 
is  to  be  said  of  the  absence  of  publicity  which  was 
the  common  trait  of  most  of  the  trials,  except  those 
which  sinned  in  the  other  direction  by  excessive  dis- 
play and  external  pomp  ?  The  examiners  showed 
extreme  indulgence.  They  were  sometimes  obliged 
to  reverse  their  decisions.^  Not  a  single  case  of  a 
candidate  who  failed  is  found  on  the  register  of  the 
Paris  Medical  Faculty  from  1395  to  1500.  The  exam- 
inations were  often  mere  formalities.  Even  this  miglit 
be  excused  if  attendance  at  the  courses  had  been  rig- 
orously required.  But  dispensations  were  frequently 
granted;  and  to  pay  for  it  was  sometimes  all  that 
was  necessary  to  obtain  the  certificate  of  attendance 

1  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  degrees  were  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal sources  of  revenue  to  the  professors. 


164  ABELARD 

during   the   scholastic  term.     Abuses  were  increased 
by  the  multiplication   of  universities ;  they   became 
^  each  other's  rivals  and  sold  diplomas  at  a  discount. 
"Composed  of  a  small  number  of  masters  and  stu- 
dents," says  Thurot,  "  the  provincial  universities  were 
lax   in   their  examinations   and  even   sold   their  de- 
grees.   Students  bought  their  bachelor's  degree  there 
and  went  at  once  to  Paris  to  obtain  their  license," 
(But  even  at  Paris  trickery  and  corruption  insinuated 
I  themselves  even  into  the  solemn  decisions  pronounced 
when  degrees  were   conferred.     The   examiners  will- 
ingly displayed  a  certain  partiality  toward  the  nobles 
^.^xid  the  great. 

/     To  sum  up,  in  all  that  concerns  the  conferring  of 
I  degrees,  the  universities  of  the  Middle  Ages  seem  to 
I  have  drawn  up  admirable  regulations  on  paper,  much 
Ibetter  ones  than  they  succeeded  in  enforcing.    It  is  in 
the  system  of  examinations  that  their  laxity  is  per- 
haps most  evident  —  it   appears  also  in  the  lack  of 
discipline  of  the  students,  in  the  lack  of  regularity 
on  the  part  of  the  professors  —  in  the  vices  insepa- 
rable from  a  democratic  government,  where  the  chiefs, 
usually   elected,   were   not   always   sufficiently   inde- 
pendent to  resist  solicitations  and  offers  of  money, 
and  where  some  anarchy  was  mixed  with  a  great  deal 
of  liberty. 


Part   III 

THE   COURSE   OF  STUDY  AND    THE 
METHODS   OF  TEACHING 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  FACULTIES  OF  ARTS 

I.  The  Faculty  of  Arts  at  Paris  —  The  Schools  of  the  Rue  du 
Fouarre  —  A  student's  day's  work  —  Description  of  the  school- 
rooms—  Costumes  and  other  peculiarities — Ordinary  and  ex- 
traordinary lessons  —  The  bachelors  and  the  masters  —  The  dispu- 
tations —  II.  The  classic  books  —  Statutes  of  Robert  de  Cour^on 
—  Logical  works  of  Aristotle  —  Grammar  of  Priscian  —  Books 
reserved  for  the  extraordinary  lessons  —  Works  at  first  prohibited 
afterwards  authorized  —  Intellectual  dictature  of  Aristotle  — 
III.  The  methods  of  teaching  —  The  exposition  —  The  questions  — 
Defects  of  these  processes  of  servile  interpretation  or  merely 
formal  discussion  —  The  scarcity  of  books  a  principal  cause  of 
the  methods  used  in  the  mediaeval  universities  —  Superstitious 
reverence  for  texts  —  Abuse  of  the  disputation  —  IV.  Mixed  char- 
acter of  the  Faculty  of  Arts ;  a  school  at  once  of  superior  and 
secondary  instruction  —  Modification  of  its  first  organization  — 
The  "pedagogies"  and  the  colleges  —  Importance  of  the  colleges 
in  Paris — The  lodging-houses,  hostelries,  and  colleges  in  Oxford 
and  Cambridge  —  Merton  College  —  The  system  of  boarding- 
schools  substituted  for  the  old  liberty 


Let  us  transport  ourselves  in  thought  to  Paris,  in 
any  year  you  please  of  the  thirteenth  or  fourteentli 
century,  and  in  any  day  of  autumn  or  winter,  from 
the  morrow  of  St.  Denis  (October  10)  to  the  first  Sun- 
day of  Lent.  The  bells  of  the  cathedral  of  Notre 
Dame,  which  are  heard  in  all  the  quarters  where  the 
students  reside,  on  the  river  banks,  and  on  the  heights 

167 


168  ABELARD 

of  Ste.  Genevieve,  almost  as  clearly  as  in  the  streets 
adjoining  the  city  ^  —  the  bells  of  Notre  Dame  have 
just  announced  with  a  great  clamor  that  the  hour  has 
struck  for  the  re-assembling  of  the  classes  in  all  the 
schools. 

It  is  very  early  in  the  morning;  dawn  has  not  yet 
broken.  The  customs  of  a  rude  and  vigorous  society 
which  has  no  fear  of  overdriving,  do  not  permit  young 
men  "  to  spend  in  slumber  the  time  most  precious  for 
study."  At  five  o'clock,^  or  six  o'clock  at  latest,  at 
the  moment  when  the  Carmelites  of  the  Place  Mau- 
bert  ring  the  bell  for  their  first  mass,  the  Kegents  of 
the  Faculty  of  Arts  resume  their  customary  lessons. 
From  every  direction  great  numbers  of  students  quit- 
ting the  private  houses,  hotels,  or  colleges,  where 
they  live,  turn  toward  the  Rue  du  Fouarre,^  where  most 
of  the  schools  are  established.  The  street  is  closed : 
a  barrier  prevents  the  entrance  of  pedestrians  or  of 
carriages,  the  noise  of  which  might  disturb  the  scho- 
lastic exercises ;  a  turnkey  opens  the  door  to  students 
and  closes  it  behind  them.'*     Other  students,  but  in 

1  It  is  known  tliat  the  City,  that  is  to  say,  the  little  island  on 
which  Notre  Dame  is  built,  had  been  originally  the  centre  of 
studies ;  but  gradually  the  schools  and  scholars  crossed  the  bridges 
and  established  themselves  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Seine,  in  what 
is  still  known  as  the  Latin  Quarter. 

2  In  some  verses  entitled :  0/  (he  Unhappy  Condition  of  thoKe 
who  Study  at  Paris,  Btichanan  complains,  about  1526,  that  in  his 
time  the  bells  still  rang  at  five  in  the  morning. 

3  The  Rue  du  F'ouarre  got  its  name  from  an  old  word  signifying 
"  straw,"  on  account  of  the  straw  spread  on  the  ground  in  the  class- 
rooms. 

*  In  reality,  the  Rue  du  Fouarre  was  not  closed  until  1403,  by 
authority  of  the  Provost  of  Paris. 


THE   FACULTIES   OF   ARTS  169 

smaller  numbers,  present  themselves  in  the  Clos- 
Bruneau.^  With  the  latter  mingle  youths  of  a  more 
advanced  age,  and  even  mature  men;  these  are  stu- 
dents of  the  Faculty  of  Decretal,  which  also  has  its 
exercises  in  the  Clos-Bruneau.  All  of  them  are  de- 
cently and  modestly  clad,  as  is  enjoined  by  the  rules. 
Their  robes  are  long,  closed  in  front,  and  floating; 
about  the  neck  they  have  a  short  scarf,  and  on  the 
head  a  sort  of  skull-cap,  and  they  wear  short  shoes. 
It  is  in  spite  of  constantly  renewed  regulations  that 
some  of  them,  under  pretext  of  being  noblemen,  are 
carrying  small-arms,  daggers  or  poniards;  and  that 
others,  in  imitation  of  the  dandies  of  the  period, 
have  short,  close-fitting  coats,  caps  trimmed  with 
diverse  ornaments,  and  long  shoes,  pointed  and  turned 
up  at  the  toes.  But  in  general  the  dress  is  simple, 
almost  poor;  and  these  students,  nearly  all  of  whom 
wear  the  same  black  uniform,    resemble   the  young 

ecclesiastics  of  our  modern  seminaries.  J 

Their  scholastic  equipment  is  small ;  almost  nothing 
beyond  what  is  necessary  for  writing.  They  carry 
a  copy-book  for  the  purpose  of  taking  notes  during 
the  professor's  lecture,  and  also,  Avhen  they  are  able, 
a  manuscript  copy  of  the  work  which  is  to  be  the  sub- 
ject of  the  lecture,  a  Priscian's  grammar,  or  a  trans- 
lation of  Aristotle:  manuscripts  which  they  have 
borrowed  or  bought,  often  at  a  high  price,  from  the 


1  Now  the  Rue  St.  Jean  de  Beauvais.  Until  1202,  the  Clos-Bruneau 
was  a  vineyard  belonging  to  the  Bishop  of  Paris,  who  ceded  it  in 
order  that  houses  might  be  built  there.  As  a  great  nunober  of  stu- 
dents could  find  no  room  in  the  Rue  du  Fouarre,  the  Faculty  of 
Arts  spread  into  the  Rue  Bruneau. 


170  ABELARD 

librarian,  or  the  Stationarius,  who,  as  his  name  im- 
plies, stations  himself  close  to  the  schools  so  as  to 
provide  the  scholars  with  paper  and  books. 

Let  us  enter  at  hazard  a  class-room  in  a  school. 
There  are  plenty  of  them,  but  they  are  all  much  alike, 
and  in  each  a  master  assembles  the  pupils  who  have 
registered  themselves  to  follow  his  course,  for  instruc- 
tion which  is  everywhere  the  same.  The  student  has 
not,  in  fact,  the  right  to  go  to  one  school  on  this  day 
and  another  on  that.  There  must  not  be  a  single 
student  at  Paris  without  his  determinate  master  (qui 
certym  magistrum  non  habeai).^ 

The  class-room  is  in  nowise  luxurious,  or  even  com- 
fortable.'' The  school  furniture  is  of  the  simplest, 
being  composed  of  nothing  but  a  platform  chair  and 
desk  for  the  master.  The  pupils  sit  on  the  ground, 
which  the  beadle  has  taken  care  to  cover  with  a  little 
straw,  as  a  preventive  against  dampness  or  dust. 
That  there  are  no  seats  for  the  students,  is  due  in  the 
first  place,  assuredly,  to  economy,  because  there  is  no 
money  to  buy  any;  but  it  seems  that  a  moral  notion 
also  underlies  the  fact;  as  late  as  1451  the  students 
will  still  be  enjoined  to  sit  on  the  ground,  and  not  on 
chairs  or  benches,  in  order,  they  will  be  told,  that  they 
may  escape  all  temptation  to  pride. 

The  professor  mounts  his  platform;  he  is  a  master- 
regent  of  the  Faculty  of  Arts.     He  is  very  young,  for 

1  Chartularium  Univ.  Paris.,  t.  i,  p.  79. 

2  In  the  thirteenth  century,  each  master  hired  a  class-room  on 
his  own  account.  Later  on,  toward  the  close  of  the  same  century, 
the  Nations  bought  the  schools  of  the  Rue  du  Fouarre  and  allotted 
them  among  the  masters. 


THE  FACULTIES  OF   ARTS  171 

he  is  just  beginning;  he  was  not  promoted  to  the  mas- 
tership until  a  few  months  ago,  and  he  was  then  only 
twenty-one  years  old.  He  wears  a  black  gown  with 
a  furred  cowl,  conformably  to  the  statutes  of  1215, 
wherein  Kobert  de  Cour^on  had  prescribed  that  "  no 
master,  reading  in  arts,  shall  wear  anything  but  a 
chape,  or  cope,  round  and  black,  and  reaching  to  the 
heels,  at  least  when  he  is  a  new  beginner."  ^ 

The  lessons  commence  as  soon  as  the  prayers  of 
thanksgiving  have  been  recited.  The  professor  has  a 
text-book,  or,  perhaps,  several  text-books,  before  him; 
for  it  is  still  customary  in  the  Faculty  of  Arts  to 
explain  several  books  during  the  same  lesson,  both  in 
grammar  and  logic. '^  He  reads  slowly,  and  in  a  low 
voice,  voce  submissa,  each  sentence  of  the  text;  then 
he  comments  on  it  and  paraphrases  it  while  the  silent 
and  attentive  students  diligently  transfer  the  words  of 
their  master  to  their  copy-books.^  In  the  school  we 
have  entered,  the  master  has  written  down  beforehand 
all  he  has  to  say;  in  the  neighboring  school,  they  say, 
the  professor  extemporizes;  but  the  majority  of  the 
masters  find  it  more  convenient  to  dictate  their  courses 
from  a  manuscript,  and  the  students  themselves  prefer 
this  method  of  instruction.  There  are  even  schools, 
or  so  it  is  alleged,  where  the  master  contents  himself 

^  Nidlvs  .  .  .  habeat  capamnisi  rotuiixlam,  nir/ram  et  talarcm, 
saltern  diim  nova  est  {Chartxdarium  Univ.  Paris.,  t.  i,  p.  73). 

2  "  In  the  thirteenth  century,"  says  Thurot,  "several  different 
books  were  explained  during  the  same  lesson." 

8  The  students,  however,  sometimes  departed  from  their  habitual 
calmness.  When  the  Faculty,  in  l.T)5,  wished  to  prohibit  dictated 
courses,  there  was  almost  a  riot  in  the  Rue  du  Fouarre :  the  students 
hooted,  hissed,  stamped,  and  threw  stones. 


172  ABELARD 

with  handing  over  his  manuscript  to  a  student,  who 
reads  it  in  his  place.  ^ 

Beginning  at  about  six  in  the  morning,  the  ordinary 
lessons  are  protracted  with  no  haste  on  the  part  of  the 
master.  In  fact,  it  is  not  until  nine  o'clock  that  some- 
what different  exercises,  the  extraordinary  courses, 
must  begin. 

The  extraordinary  courses  are  still  given  in  the  Rue 
du  Fouarre,  but  other  courses  of  the  same  kind  are 
taught  almost  anywhere,  at  the  option  of  the  profes- 
sors.^ They  may  give  extraordinary  lessons  even  in 
their  chambers.  These  are  the  same  students  whom  we 
shall  presently  meet  again  at  the  extraordinary  course, 
but  neither  the  same  master,  nor  the  same  books  of  in- 
struction will  be  there.  The  professor  is  still  more 
youthful  than  he  who  gave  the  ordinary  lesson  in  the 
morning.  Although  the  masters  of  arts  also  give 
extraordinary  courses,  it  is  a  simple  bachelor  who  is 
now  about  to  teach.  He  is  barely  seventeen  or  eigh- 
teen years  old;  and  he  might  be  younger  still,  since 
they  go  up  for  the  baccalaureate  at  fourteen  or  fifteen. 
Nor  is  the  costume  the  same;  botli  masters  and  bach- 
elors, when  they  teach  extraordinary,  may  wear  gowns 

1  In  1,155,  and  again  in  13f)<),  the  practice  of  dictating  lessons  was 
forbidden.  The  lectures  were  to  be  delivered  in  "a  continuous 
discourse."  But  these  rules  were  not  observed,  although  each  new 
master  was  obliged  to  swear  that  he  would  conform  to  them.  The 
indolence  of  professors,  and  of  students  likewise,  carried  the  day, 
and  the  use  of  dictation  prevailed. 

■^  In  i;?5.5,  nevertheless,  the  Faculty  forbade  extraordinary  courses 
to  be  given  anywhere  except  in  the  schools  of  the  Nations;  that  is 
to  say,  in  those  of  the  Rue  du  Fouarre. 


THE   FACULTIES  OF  ARTS  173 

of  any  material  they  please.  As  to  the  books  which 
form  the  subject  of  the  lesson,  they  are  no  longer  the 
classic  works  of  grammar  and  logic  which  constitute 
fundamental  instruction,  but  Aristotle's  treatises  on 
ethics,  which  have  always  been  authorized;  and,  when 
the  prohibition  of  earlier  days  shall  have  been  re- 
moved, they  will  be  the  works  of  the  same  author  on 
metaphysics  and  physics.  Again,  they  may  be  some 
elementary  book  on  rhetoric,  or  a  treatise  relating  to 
the  sciences  comprised  in  the  quadrivium,  —  arithme- 
tic, geometry,  or  astronomy. 

The  students  whose  day's  work  we  are  following  are 
not  merely  present  at  a  single  extraordinary  course.^ 
Since  1254,  the  Faculty  of  Arts  has  authorized  two  ex- 
traordinary courses  on  days  when  the  ordinary  lessons 
are  given,  and  three  on  holidays,  when  the  latter  are 

1 1  italicize  the  word  course  because  the  extraordinary  lecture 
was  given  ad  cursum,  cursorie.  The  meaning  of  these  expressions 
has  been  much  disputed.  Some  authors  have  thought  they  must  be 
understood  to  indicate  a  somewhat  different  method  of  explication, 
the  lectures  given  cursorie  or  exiraor dinar ie  not  admitting  so  ex- 
haustive an  interpretation  as  those  given  ordinarie.  To  illustrate 
this  view  the  fact  has  been  cited  that  at  the  University  of  Prague 
the  b<achelors  had  to  abide  by  the  reading  of  the  text  in  these  ex- 
traordinary courses,  and  had  no  right  to  comment  on  it.  But  in 
opposition  to  this  opinion  it  must  be  observed  that  both  Masters  in 
Arts  and  titular  professors  gave  extraordinary  lessons,  and  that  it 
is  improbable  that  these  masters  changed  their  usual  simple  style 
when  speaking  at  different  hours  and  on  other  books.  I  think 
that  a  cursory  lecture  meant  a  course  distinct  from  the  regular 
elementary  lessons ;  what  we  call  nowadays,  in  our  French  Facul- 
ties, complementary  courses  or  conferences,  in  contradistinction 
to  the  authoritative  professional  lectures.  This  opinion  has  been 
strongly  stated  and  maintained  by  Mullinger  {op.  cit.,  appendix  E.). 


174  ABELAED 

omitted,  but  which  are  not,  for  all  that,  days  of  com- 
plete repose.  The  student  of  the  Middle  Ages  is 
accustomed  to  spend  the  greater  part  of  the  day,  or 
about  seven  hours,  in  class  with  his  masters.^  Bu- 
chanan will  say,  in  the  sixteenth  century :  ''  A  short 
interval  is  grudgingly  allowed  for  dinner."  It  is  not 
until  evening,  after  the  diversions  at  the  meadow 
of  St.  Gervais,  the  ''  field  of  sports  "  of  the  university 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  perhaps  after  a  halt  in  some 
wineshop,  that  the  student,  re-entering  his  chamber,^ 
at  last  has  time  for  his  personal  tasks  —  tasks,  more- 
over, of  the  most  restricted  and  mechanical  sort, 
since,  for  want  of  books,  they  are  usually  limited  to 
copying,  recopying,  and  revising  the  notes  taken  at 
the  courses,  or  learning  them  by  heart. 
/  Lessons  upon  lessons,  in  one  form  or  another,  are, 
then,  the  habitual  exercises  daily  offered  to  its  pupils 
,  by  the  Faculty.  Once  a  week,  however,  the  usual 
I  monotony  of  instruction  and  of  studies  is  interrupted 
/  by  the  hebdomadal  disputation.  The  masters  as- 
semble together  every  Saturday,  and  hold  a  discussion 
on  some  given  subject  in  the  presence  of  the  students. 
True,  it  is  merely  a  spectacle  as  yet,  at  which  the 
youngest  students  may  be  present  without  participat- 

^  I  cannot  agree  with  the  judgment  formed  by  a  writer  of  our 
day  ^M.  Lecoy  de  la  Marche,  in  his  interesting  work,  La  Cluiire 
Frani;aise  au  moyen  age,  Paris,  1886,  p.  45G),  who  claims  that  "  the 
methods  of  the  Middle  Ages  left  a  great  deal  to  the  initiative  of  the 
student  .  .  .  and  permitted  him  to  work  alone."  The  contrary  is 
true. 

2  In  the  earliest  times  "  each  scholar  inhabited,  alone  or  with  a 
comrade,  some  modest  tavern  cliamber,  witli  his  little  collection  of 
volumes  or  rolls  of  parchment"  (Lecoy  de  la  Marche,  ojj.  cit.,  p. 
461). 


THE  FACULTIES  OF  ARTS  175 

ing;  nevertheless,  they  are  already  learning,  in  these 
dialectical  tournaments  and  passages  at  arms,  to  de- 
velop an  enthusiasm  for  the  art  of  discussion.  They 
take  sides  for  the  respondens  or  for  the  opponens,^ 
and  are  thus  preparing  to  become  subtle  and  daring 
disputants,  on  the  day  when,  promoted  to  the  bacca- 
laureate, their  turn  will  come  to  be  admitted  to  the 
honor  and  the  risk  of  disputing  publicly. 


n 


The  sketch  I  have  just  made,  incomplete  as  it  may 
be,  has  already  given  a  general  idea  of  the  studies  in 
the  Faculty  of  Arts  at  Paris ;  and  also  —  Paris  being 
the  great  model  for  this  kind  of  instruction  —  in  the 
other  universities.  Arts  signified  in  the  first  place  the 
ancient  trivium  and  the  ancient  quadrivium,  with  a 
marked  emphasis  on  dialectic;  it  also  meant  philoso- 
phy, which,  with  the  works  of  Aristotle  on  psychol- 
ogy, ethics,  the  natural  and  physical  sciences,  and 
metaphysics,  gradually  made  its  way  into  the  schools, 
so  successfully  that  the  Faculty  of  Arts  became  a 
Faculty  of  Philosophy.  Let  us  see,  now,  in  order  to 
get  a  complete  notion,  what  were  the  classic  books  of 
instruction  in  arts. 

The  most  ancient  rule  of  studies  in  the  University 
of  Paris  dates  from  1215;  it  was  drawn  up  by  the 
Cardinal-Legate,  Robert  de  Courqon.'' 

1  The  respondens  defended  a  thesis  {respondebat  de  questione), 
while  the  opponens  attacked  it. 

2  Chartularium  Univ.  Paris.,  t.  i,  p.  781. 


17ft  ABELARD 

The  works  which,  according  to  these  first  statutes, 
must  be  read  in  the  ordinary  lessons,  were  the  follow- 
ing: 1.  Aristotle's  treatises  on  logic;  2.  Priscian's 
grammar.  The  text  of  the  rule  says :  lib^'os  Aristotelis 
de  dialectica  tarn  de  veteri  quam  de  nova;  et  duos  Pj-is- 
ciayios.  These  words  require  some  explanation. 
Ancient  dialectic,  as  we  learn  from  the  later  regula- 
tions of  1252  and  1255,^  comprised  various  portions  of 
the  Organon,  either  interpreted  by  Porphyry  ^  or 
translated  by  Boethius ;  *  and  in  addition,  several 
special  works  by  Boethius :  —  1.  what  was  called  the 
liber  Porphyrii,  that  is,  his  Introduction  to  the  Cate- 
gories of  Aristotle,  translated  from  the  Greek  in  the 
fourth  century  by  the  Latin  writer  Victorinus  and 
annotated  by  Boethius;  2.  the  Predicaments  (predica- 
menta),  which  also  are  the  categories  of  Aristotle, 
doubtless  in  the  translation  made  by  Boetliius ;  3.  tlie 
Interpretatio  or  Ilermeneia  *  {periarmenias,  in  the  bar- 
barous text  of  the  statute  of  1255) ;  4.  finally,  the 
Divisions  and  Topics  of  Boethius  (with  the  exception 
of  the  fourth  book  of  the  Topics).  The  new  logic, 
doubtless  so  called  because  it  was  not  known  by 
Abelard  and  his  contemporaries,  was,  nevertheless, 

1  Chartvlarium  Univ.  Paris.,  t.  i,  pp.  228,  278. 

2  Porphyry,  an  Alexandrian  philosopher  (233-305  A.D.). 

8  Boethius,  a  Latin  philosopher,  born  in  470  or  475,  died  in  524. 
He  had  a  great  influence  on  the  studies  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Besides 
his  other  works,  original  and  translated,  which  I  cite  in  thischapter, 
his  treatise  De  Consolatione  was  studied  in  the  schools. 

*  The  Hermeneia  was  already  as  in  the  time  of  Abelard,  who 
has  written  "Aristotelis  duos  tantuni,  '  Praidicamentorum  '  scilicet 
et  '  Peri  Ermenias,'  libros  usus  adhuc  Latiuorum  cognovit." 


THE  FACULTIES  OF  ARTS  177 

the  old  dialectic  of  Aristotle,  Latinized  by  Boethius. 
It  comprised  the  other  portions  of  the  Organon :  the 
Prior  Analytics,  the  book  par  excellence,  since  it  con- 
tained the  theory  of  the  syllogism;  the  Posterior 
Analytics,  or  the  theory  of  demonstration;  the  Topics; 
and  lastly  the  Elenchi,  or  the  Arguments  of  the 
Sophists. 

To  these  works  on  pure,  deductive,  and  formal  logic, 
it  is  somewhat  surprising  to  find  the  programme 
adding  Priscian's  grammar  on  the  same  scheme  of 
studies,  or,  to  be  more  exact,  the  two  Priscians.  The 
first  Priscian,  Priscianus  major,  comprised  the  first 
sixteen  chapters  of  the  Institutio  grammatica  of  the  cele- 
brated Latin  grammarian ;  ^  the  other,  Priscianus  minor, 
the  last  two  chapters  of  the  same  work.  On  one  side 
the  abstract  rules  of  reasoning;  on  the  other,  the 
abstract  rules  of  language ;  such  was,  naturally  enough, 
the  substratum  of  instruction  at  a  period  when  men 
neglected  the  study  of  things,  realities,  in  order  to 
occupy  themselves  solely  with  logical  and  grammati- 
cal forms. 

Let  us  see  now  what  were  the  texts  reserved  for  the 
extraordinary  courses,  "  for  the  feast  days  "  (festivis 
diebns),  as  the  statutes  of  1215  call  them ;  which  shows 
that  extraordinary  courses  were  originally  given  on 
holidays  only.  It  must  not  be  forgotten,  however, 
that  there  were  nearly  one  hundred  annual  holidays. 
Among  these  books,  only  half  classic,  as  we  may  say, 
and  which  in  any  case  ranked  as  merely  secondary  in 

1  Priscian  (fifth  century)  had  kept  a  famous  school  at  Constan- 
tinople. 


178  ABELARD 

I  the  estimation  of  both  masters  and  scholars,  several 
/  again  related  to  grammar  or  to  logic.  Among  this 
number  were  the  fourth  book  of  Topics  by  Boethius, 
eliminated,  no  one  knows  why,  from  the  ordinary 
lessons;  and  the  Barbarism,  a  now  nearly  forgotten 
work  by  Donatus,^  the  grammarian  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, which  treated  of  grammatical  figures.'^  But  this 
second  list  of  the  plan  of  studies  of  1215  includes 
also  works  of  quite  a  different  range,  since  it  com- 
prises the  Ethics  of  Aristotle;  that  is  to  say,  the 
Nicomachean  Ethics.  True,  this  was  an  elective 
study;  one  read  it  si  placet.  The  extraordinary 
courses,  also,  gave  a  good  deal  of  attention  to  rhetoric, 
and  to  what  was  summed  up  in  a  single  word  as  the 
quadrivialia,  or  works  relating  to  the  arts  of  the 
quadrivium.  "^ " 

But  the  works  of  Aristotle,  in  spite  of  the  supersti- 
tious veneration  with  which  the  name  of  the  philoso- 
/pher  was  already  honored,  were  far  from  being 
I  acceptable  as  a  whole  to  the  suspicious  orthodoxy 
J  of  the  Church,  then  sovereign  mistress  of  studies. 
I  "Let  no  one,"  said  Robert  de  Courgon,  "read  either 
the  Metaphysics  or  the  Natural  Philosophy  of  Aristotle, 
or  the  abridgments  (summce)  of  these  works ;  nor  "  he 
added,    linking  Aristotle   with   tlie   heretics   of   the 


i  Donatus  was  the  master  of  St,  Jerome.  The  Barbarism  was  the 
third  book  of  his  Ars  major. 

2  In  the  statutes  of  1252  and  12.')5  another  modern  work  appears, 
the  Sex  principia  of  Gilbert  de  la  Porre'e,  Bisliop  of  Poitiers,  born 
in  1070,  died  in  1154.  He  had  taught  theology  at  Paris.  The  6'ix 
principles  were  on  the  Categories  of  Aristotle.  (See  Haureau,  de  la 
Philoaophie  Scholastique,  t.  i,  p.  298.) 


THE   FACULTIES  OF  ARTS  179 

period,  "tlie  writings  of  David  of  Dinant/  the  heretic  / 

Amauri,^  or  the  Spaniard  Mauricius."^ i 

Time  was  necessary  before  the  prohibited  portions  ] 
of  Aristotle's  works  should  obtain  right  of  entrance  ! 
into  the  schools  of  the  Faculty  of  Arts.     The  BulL^^ 
of  Gregory  IX,    in  1231,*  regulating  instruction  in 
arts,  again  insisted  on  the  needful  exclusion  of  his 
books  on   natural   philosophy,  at  least   ''until   they 
shall  have  been  examined  and  expurgated."     It  was 
in   1255   that   Aristotle's    Physics,    interdicted  until 
then  under  pain   of  excommunication,  was  officially 
authorized  at  Paris,   simultaneously  with  his  meta- 
physics,  the  work  de  Animalibus,   and  the   treatise 
on  the  Soul :  in  a  word,  all  of  the  greater  and  lesser  1 
works  of  the  Greek  philosopher,  which  thenceforward 
entered,  in  their  totality  and  triumphantly,  into  tlie 
university  schools,  to  exercise  there  for  several  cen-  \ 
turies   an    intellectual    domination    whose    equal    it  1 
would  be  impossible  to  find  in  the  history  Of  Iniman   1 
thought.      Certain   other   universities   had   preceded_J 

1  David  of  Dinant  had  taught  at  Paris  in  the  twelfth  century ; 
he  maintained  the  pantheistic  proposition  that  "every  creature  is 
God." 

2  Amauri  of  Bena  had  been  a  professor  at  Paris  in  the  twelfth 
century ;  he  was  considered  one  of  the  promoters  of  the  sect  of  the 
Albigenses.  Persecuted  and  condemned  during  his  life,  he  was  so 
even  after  his  death  in  1204.  "Corpus  inayistri  Amaurici  extra- 
hatur  a  cemeterio  et  projiciatur  in  terram  non  henedktam,"  said  the 
decrees  of  the  Provincial  Council  of  Paris  in  1210. 

8  Mauricius  is  unknown,  and  M.  Renan  has  claimed  {Averroes  et 
I' Averroisme)  that  Averroes  should  be  read  liere  instead  of  Mauri- 
cius. But  it  is  plain  from  a  passage  of  Albertus  Magnus,  cited  by 
Pere  Deuifle  (Chartulariutn,  etc.,  t.  i,  p.  80),  that  Mauricius  was  a 
philosopher  quite  distinct  from  Averroes. 

*  Char (ular turn,  etc.,  t.  i,  p.  138. 


180  ABELARD 

Paris  in  this  wholesale  adoption  of  Aristotle.  Thus, 
in  1229,  the  professors  of  Toulouse,  in  a  letter  ad- 
dressed to  the  other  universities,  boasted  among 
other  advantages  possessed  by  their  university,  that 
students  might  there  study  "the  libri  naiurales  pro- 
hibited at  Paris,"  and  thus  penetrate  to  their  depths, 
even  to  their  marrow,  the  secrets  of  nature  (naturce 
sinum  medulUtus  perscrutari)  .^ 

It  must  not  be  forgotten,  however,  as  I  have 
already  remarked,  that  everything  in  the  works  of 
Aristotle  which  displayed  the  spirit  of  observation 
and  the  experimental  researches  of  Plato's  great  rival, 

—  all  that  was  called  at  Toulouse  the  pliysica  realis, 

—  was  relegated  to  the  second  place,  and  almost 
ranked  among  what  we  call  nowadays  optional  studies. 
The  statutes  of  1255  determine  the  number  of  weeks, 
especially  in  the  latter  half  of  the  year,  that  may  be 
devoted  to  these  lectures,  which  had  not  as  yet  the 
lionor  of  a  regular  and  continuous  course,  and  which 
could  only  be  treated  superficially.  Logic  manifestly! 
held  the  first  place.  To  reason  well  had  become  the  / 
whole  duty  of  the  studious  man.  There  was  no 
thought  of  knowing  the    history  of  humanity,  still 

•  less  of  observing  the  phenomena  of  nature.  If  rheto- 
ric was  occasionally  taken  up,  it  was  in  order  toi 
draw  from  it  certain  rules  of  pure  form,  not  to  seek 
insight  into  the  beauties  of  literature.  The  master-j 
p'ieces  of  classic  antiquity  were  unknown.  Dialectic] 
had  invaded  all  things;  the  syllogism  was  of  uni- 
versal application.  "  Logic,"  says  Thurot,  "  was 
regarded  as  the  art  of  arts,  the  science  of  sciences." 

1  Chartularium,  etc.,  t.  i,  p.  131. 


THE   FACULTIES   OF   ARTS  181 

The  successive  reforms  in  the  University  of  Paris 
made  very  little  modification  in  the  plan  of  studies 
that  I  have  outlined.  The  reform  of  Cardinale  St. 
Marc  and  Montaigu,  in  1366,  merely  replaced  Pris- 
cian's  grammar  by  Alexandre  de  la  Villedieu's^  famous 
book,  the  Doctrinale  puerorum,  written  in  leonine  verse, 
which  remained  the  grammatical  text-book  until  it 
was  in  turn  dethroned  by  the  grammar  of  Despautere 
in  the  sixteenth  century.  The  reform  of  Cardinal 
d'Estouteville,  in  1452,  on  the  eve  of  the  Kenaissance, 
left  things  pretty  much  as  they  were.  "Aristotle," 
says  Crevier,''  "  was  still  in  possession  of  all  his  glory." 
And  he  adds,  "As  yet  there  was  no  question  of 
rhetoric."  

I  have  spoken  of  the  Faculty  of  Arts  at  Paris  only ; 
but  the  programmes  were  the  same  everywhere.  I 
have  before  me,  for  example,  the  statutes  of  the  Faculty 
of  Toulouse  in  1309,*  in  which  are  found  the  same 
books,  but  with  the  difference  that  Aristotle's  Ethics 
and  Physics  occupy  a  more  important  place.  Thus, 
the  ten  books  of  Nicomachean  Ethics  had  to  be  read 
in  two  years,  and  read  from  one  end  to  the  other 
{legantnr  complete).  Another  distribution  of  subjects 
is  made,  and  a  different  order  proposed  for  the  succes- 
sion of  lectures ;  but  it  is  always,  as  one  may  say,  the 
same  game  of  cards,  though  played  in  another  style. 
Aristotle  reigns  as  sovereign  master  at  Oxford,  and 

1  Crevier,  t.  ii,  p.  450.  Alexandre  de  la  Vllledleu,  born  in  Nor- 
mandy, composed  his  Doctrinale  in  1209. 

•^  Crevier,  t.  iv,  p.  190.  The  greatest  novelty  of  the  reform  of 
1452,  with  reference  to  the  studies  in  the  Faculty  of  Arts,  was  the 
introduction  of  the  study  of  Latin  versification. 

•  M.  Fournier,  t.  i,  p.  465. 


182  ABELARD 

Cambridge  also.  But  it  seems  that  he  is  less  directly 
approached,  and  that  logic  is  studied  chiefly  in  abridg- 
ments and  epitomes.  "The  most  popular  text-book 
of  logic,"  says  Laurie,  "  was  for  centuries  the  Summu- 
IcB  of  Petrus  Hispanus."^  So  likewise  Mullinger: 
"  For  two  centuries  and  a  half  the  Summuloe  logicales 
reigned  supreme  in  the  schools."'^  A  part  of  this 
work,  entitled  Parva  Logicalia,  was  the  standard  book 
at  Leipsic  and  Prague.^ 

It  remains  to  be  shown  in  what  manner  the  stan- 
dard works,  of  which  I  have  drawn  up  a  list,  were 
distributed  throughout  the  two  periods  of  study ;  one 
of  which  constituted  the  preparation  for  the  bacca- 
laureate, and  the  other  for  the  licentiateship.     Tlie   | 
candidate  for  the  determinance,  at  the  end   of  the  ; 
thirteenth  and  during  the  fourteenth  century,  must  ' 
have    studied,    either    in    ordinary   or   extraordinary 
courses,   all  of  Aristotle's  works  on  logic,  Priscian's 
grammar,  Boethiiis's  Divisions  and  Topics,  Donatus's    ', 
Barbarism,  and  the  Six  Principles  of   Gilbert   de  la    \ 
Porree.     Aspirants   to   the   licentiate's   degree   must 
have   studied   the    same    books,    and,   further,    must 
have  heard  Aristotle's  treatises  on  physics,  psychol- 
ogy, and   ethics.      They   must  also  have  attended   a 
hundred    lectures    on    mathematics    and    astronomy.- — 
The  statutes  of  the  University  of  Vienna,  in  1389, 
required   the   study   of    five   books   of    Euclid,*   and 

1  Petrus  Hispanus  was  none  other  than  Pope  John  XXI,  who 
occupied  the  pontifical  throne  from  127G  to  1277. 

2  Mullinger,  op.  cit.,  p.  178. 

8  Tlio  Parva  Logicalia  (the  seventh  treatise  of  the  Summnlse) 
were  also  studied  at  Paris.     See  Thurot,  p.  47. 

*  There  was  a  translation  of  Euclid  due  to  Boethius. 


THE  FACULTIES  OF  ARTS  183 

also  of  the  book  on  the  sphere,  doubtless  the  Sphera 
mundi  of  the  English  computer,  John  of  Holywood, 
better  known  under  the  Latinized  name  of  Sacrobosco, 
and  whose  works  remained  classic  down  to  the  six- 
teenth century.  Another  work  mentioned  in  the 
programme  of  the  University  of  Vienna  was  the 
Theory  of  the  Planets,  a  treatise  by  the  Italian 
mathematician,  Campano  of  Novara.^  In  1427,  the 
same  work  was  taught  at  Paris.  Little  by  little  the 
Middle  Ages  threw  off  the  yoke  of  pure  scholasticism, 
and  acquired  a  taste  for  the  sciences;  at  the  same  ' 
time,  toward  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  \ 
more  especially  in  the  fifteenth,  literary  studies,  such 
as  rhetoric  and  poetry,  dependencies  of  grammar, 
began  to  be  cultivated  with  ardor,  in  spite  of  the 
resistance  offered  by  the  old  scholasticism,  whose 
motto  was  :   "  Good  grammarian,  bad  logician."         

III 

We  know  now  what  were  the  texts  and  the  authors 
upon  which  the  attention  of  those  who  were  called 
artists  was  concentrated  during  three  or  four  cen- 
turies, and  which  sufficed  for  the  intellectual  educa- 
tion of  a  long  series  of  generations,  —  the  arts  then 
constituting  the  general  instruction  received  by  all 
students,  even  those  who  were  later  on  to  pursue 
special  courses  in  the  Faculties  of  Theology,  Law,  or 

^  Music,  the  fourth  art  of  the  quadrivium,  was  not  altogether 
neglected ;  it  was  studied  at  Vienna,  and  notably  at  Salamanca. 
At  Paris  it  was  but  little  cultivated ;  it  appears  occasionally  in 
connection  with  the  chants  of  the  Church. 

//     - 


184  ABELARD 

Medicine.  We  have  yet  to  examine  the  methods  fol- 
lowed in  the  explanation  of  these  authors. 

Thurot,  and  Mullinger  after  Thurot,  have  described 
very  exactly  the  two  essential  processes  of  the  pro- 
fessors of  the  Middle  Ages.  The  first  consisted  in 
examining  the  text  (expositio)  ;  the  second,  in  discuss- 
ing it  (qucestiones) .  "The  method  pursued,"  says 
Mullinger,  "appears  to  have  been  of  two  kinds,  of 
which  Aquinas's  Commentary  on  Aristotle  and  the 
Qucestiones  of  Buridanus  on  the  Ethics  may  be  taken 
as  fair  specimens."  ^ 

The  first  step  was  a  work  of  subtle  analysis, 
wherein  the  commentator  twisted  in  every  way  pos- 
sible the  text  to  be  examined,  and,  indeed,  dissected 
it.  "  The  lecturer,"  says  Thurot,  translated  by  Mul- 
linger, "commenced  by  discussing  a  few  general 
questions,  having  reference  to  the  treatise  which  he 
was  called  upon  to  explain,  and,  in  the  customary 
Aristotelian  fashion,  treated  of  its  material,  formal, 
final,  and  efficient  causes.  He  pointed  out  the  princi- 
pal divisions ;  took  the  first  division  and  subdivided 
it;  divided  again  the  subdivision,  and  repeated  the 
process  until  he  had  subdivided  to  the  first  chapter. 
He  then  again  divided,  until  he  had  reached  a  sub- 
division which  included  only  a  single  sentence  or 
complete  idea.  He  finally  took  this  sentence,  and 
expressed  it  in  other  terms  which  might  serve  to 
make  the  conception  more  clear.  He  never  passed 
from  one  part  of  the  work  to  another,  from  one  chap- 
ter to  another,  or  even  from  one  sentence  to  another, 

1  Mullinger,  op.  cit.,  p.  359.  Thurot  had  said  the  same  thing 
before  Mullinger,  and  in  the  same  terms  {op.  cit.,  p.  74,  in  note). 


THE  FACULTIES  OF  ARTS  185 

with  a  minute  analysis  of  the  reasons  for  which  each 
division,  chapter,  or  sentence  was  placed  after  that 
by  which  it  was  immediately  preceded."  ^  Each  day 
this  painful  and  tedious  labor  was  renewed,  and  it 
could  have  no  other  result  but  to  give  the  auditors 
as  exact  a  knowledge  as  possible  of  a  text  indefinitely 
analyzed  and  paraphrased.  ^ 

The  other  method,  which  was  no  longer  a  servile 
commentary  on  the  text,  and  in  which  the  spirit  of 
liberty  already  manifested  itself  to  a  certain  degree, 
consisted  in  applying  to  all  doubtful  questions,  sus- 
ceptible of  being  discussed  in  various  senses,  the  pro- 
ceeding that  had  been  adopted  by  Abelard  in  the  Sic 
et  Non.  "  Whenever  a  paSsarge  presented  itself  that 
admitted  of  a  twofold  interpretation,  the  one  or  the 
other  interpretation  was  thrown  into  the  form  of  a 
qucestio,  and  then  discussed  pro  and  contra,  the  argu- 
ments on  either  side  being  drawn  up  in  the  usual  for- 
mal way.  .  .  .  Finally  the  lecturer  brought  forward 
his  own  interpretation,  and  defended  it  against  every 
objection  to  which  it  might  appear  liable ;  each 
solution  being  formulated  in  the  ordinary  syllogistic 
fashion,  with  major,  minor,  and  conclusion."  — ^. 

The  defects  of  such  instruction  are  evident.  Either 
one  was  bound  by  the  text  which  he  was  simply 
endeavoring  to  comprehend,  and  which  Avas  appre- 
ciated only  from  the  standpoint  of  order  and  method, 
and  the  logical  value  of  propositions ;  or,  using  the 
same  text,  he  gave  himself  over  to  a  purely  dialecti- 
cal argument,  circumscribed  strictly  by  the  limits  of 
the  given  subject.     No  appeal  to  the  imagination,  stil^' 


Mullinger,  p.  360,  and  Thurot,  p.  73. 


186  ABELARD 

less  to  observation,  experience,  or  fruitful  induction, 
was  made.  Nothing  but  a  vain  and  empty  verbiage, 
endless  distinctions,  and  a  sterile  tramping  over  a 
single  spot. 

j     In  studying  the  pedagogic  methods  of  any  period  in 
M^hich  they  were  developed,  allowance  must  be  made 
for  the  environment;    it  must  be  remembered   that 
they  were  not  always  the  effect  of  an  a  priori  system 
or  reasoned-out  conception,  but  were  often  the  neces- 
sary result  of  circumstances ;    in  a  word,  that  they 
were  employed  not  as  the  best  that  could  be  thought 
of,  but  as  the  only  ones  possible  at  a  given  period 
in  history  and  with  the  resources  at  one's  disposal. 
I  So  in  the  Middle  Ages  it  was  the  multitude  of  pupils 
j  to  be  taught,  on  one  hand,  and  the  scarcity  of  books 
\on  the  other,  rather  than  a  preconceived  i)edagogic 
theory,  which  was  the  chief  reason  why  the  methods 
then  in  use  were  adopted.     Students  being  unable  to 
possess  their  own  text-books,  as  at  present,  how  was 
It  possible  to  make  them  acquainted  with  tlie  classic 
'author,  unless  by  a  complete  reading  and  most  de- 
tailed, laborious,  monotonous,  and  yet  necessary  expla- 
jTiations  ?     So,  too,  the  pupil,  having  no  means,  as  in 
our  days,  with  which  to  supplement  the  master's  les- 
sons by  private  study  with  the  aid  of  books  treating 
of  the  same  subjects,  the  lecture  could  not  be  a  rapid 
exposition,  which  merely  allowed  certain  brief  notes 
^to  be  taken.     Finally,  was  it  not  from  the  same  causes 
I  that  another  defect  proceeded,  —  the  abuse  of  memory 
/  by  learning  things  by  heart  ?     It  was   necessary  to 
I  engrave  literally  on  the  mind  what  it  was  not  possi- 
I  ble  to  find  again  in  books,  because  one  had  no  books. 


THE   FACULTIES   OF   ARTS  187 

It  was  necessary  to  make  up  for  the  absence  of  libra- 
ries. .  .  .  What,  for  that  matter,  is  a  mind  orna- 
mented and  enriched  by  souvenirs  retained  word  for 
word,  if  not  a  miniature  living  library  ? 

Yet  there  were  at  least  two  things  in  the  pedagogic 
errors  of  the  Middle  Ages  for  which  the  excuse  of 
circumstances  cannot  be  pleaded,  and  in  which  the 
real  genius,  the  evil  genius  of  this  period  of  human 
education,  so  inferior  on  many  sides,  is  plainly  marked : 
on  one  hand  the  superstitious  reverence  for  texts,  and 
on  the  other,  the  abuse  of  dialectic  and  discussion. 

That  the  men  of  the  sixteenth  century,  crushed, 
one  might  say,  under  the  avalanche  of  books  which 
the  newly  invented  art  of  printing  threw  down  upon 
them  should  remain  in  general  humanists  rather  than 
realists,  readers  rather  than  observers  of  nature,  may 
readily  be  conceived.  But  that,  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
so  many  successive  generations  of  laborious  and  stu- 
dious men  should  have  consented  for  centuries  tc 
grow  pale  over  a  small  number  of  texts,  always  the 
same,  re-read  and  commented  on  to  satiety,  gnawing, 
as  it  were,  the  same  bone  forever,  is  a  thing  that  can 
only  be  explained  by  supposing  a  special  cast  ol 
mind,  an  extraordinary  intellectual  passivity,  a  com- 
plete absence  of  initiative  and  spontaneity.  Since 
there  were  hardly  any  books,  it  seems  as  if  it  woultl 
have  been  so  simple  to  turn  to  another  side  and  study 
things  in  themselves ;  to  open,  in  fine,  the  great  book 
of  nature.  But  no ;  men  preferred  to  keep  on  repeat- 
ing, mechanically  and  laboriously,  paraphrases  scru- 
tinized a  hundred  times  already ;  to  close  their  eyes 
to  the  realities  of  the  world,  in  order  to  concentrate, 


188  ABELARD 

and  at  the  same  time  to  squander,  on  certain  pages  of 
marvellously  bad  Latin,  prodigious  efforts  of  atten- 
tion. It  would  not  have  been  so  bad  had  they  clung  to 
the  spirit  of  an  author  in  studying  him.  But  no ;  it 
was  the  letter,  the  literal  form,  which  they  scruti- 
nized. 

"The  distinctive  character  of  instruction  in  the 
Middle  Ages,"  Thurot^  has  justly  said,  ''is  that 
science  was  not  taught  directly  and  in  itself,  but 
by  the  explanation  of  books  which  derived  their 
authority  solely  from  their  writers."  This  principle 
was  acted  on  in  all  the  Faculties,  and  Roger  Bacon 
thus  formulates  it :  "  When  one  knows  the  text,  one 
knows  all  that  concerns  the  science  which  is  the 
object  of  that  text."''  They  did  not  speak  in  the 
Middle  Ages  of  "taking  a  course  of  logic  or  of 
ethics,"  but  of  ^^  reading  a  book  on  logic  or  ethics." 
Instead  of  "  following  a  course,"  "  hearing  a  book " 
,  w§iS  always  the  phrase  used  (legere  or  andire  librum). 
Such  methods  were  evidently  a  mere  extension  to 
human  studies  of  the  habits  contracted  in  tlie  study 
of  theology.  Just  as  there  were  sacred  books  con- 
taining all  truths  from  the  religious  point  of  view, 
and  needing  only  to  be  commented  on  and  learned 
by  heart,  so,  from  the  scientific  point  of  view,  there 
must  be  traditional  books  whose  substance  it  was 
sufficient  to  extract  by  perpetual  deductions  in  order 
to  acquire  all  permitted  knowledge.  Although,  in  a 
word,  the  school  might  be  said  to  be  distinct  from 

1  Thurot,  op.  cit.,  p.  65. 

2  Scito  textu,  sciuntvr  omnia  qxise  pertinent  ad  facultatem  jjrop- 
ter  quam  texiux  suntfarti.    R.  Baron,  Opun  Majus. 


THE   FACULTIES   OF  ARTS  189 

the  Church,  nevertheless  the  methods  of  the  Church 
reigned  in  the  school,  and  the  professors  taught  just 
as  the  preachers  exhorted. 

The  other  characteristic  of  the  pedagogy  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  its  mania,  was  the  taste  or  rather  pas- 
sion for  disputation.  Really  independent  researches 
being  forbidden,  discussion,  by  bringing  two  different 
and  contrary  interpretations  into  opposition,  gave  both 
scholars  and  masters  at  least  the  shadow  of  liberty  of 
thoiight.  Never  has  there  been  such  an  abuse  of 
argumentation ;  when  the  sixteenth  century  brought 
into  the  world  another  spirit  and  better  methods,  it 
found  all  the  educational  institutions  transformed  into 
fencing  schools  of  dialectics.  "They  dispute  before 
dinner,"  said  Vives,*  in  1531;  "they  dispute  during 
dinner;  they  dispute  after  dinner;  they  dispute  in 
private  and  in  public,  at  all  times  and  in  every  place." 
And  the  same  author  has  given  a  satirical  description 
of  these  interminable  disputes:  "Their  self-esteem," 
he  says,  "bound  them  to  get  up  questions  on  the  sim- 
plest propositions.  On  the  mere  words,  Scribe  mihi, 
they  put  questions  of  grammar,  physics,  and  meta- 
physics. They  gave  their  adversary  no  time  to  ex- 
plain himself.  If  he  entered  into  any  developments, 
they  cried,  '  To  the  point !  to  the  point !  reply  cate- 
gorically ! '  They  had  no  concern  for  truth,  but  sought 
merely  to  defend  their  opinions.  Is  a  man  too  hard- 
pressed  ?  He  eludes  the  objection  by  force  of  obsti- 
nacy; he  denies  insolently;  he  blindly  strikes  down 
all  opposition  in  despite  of  evidence.  To  the  most 
convincing  objections,  which  drive  him  to  the  most 
1  Vives,  De  causis  corriiptarem  artitim,  t.  i,  p.  345. 


190  ABELARD 

absurd  consequences,  he  contents  himself  with  reply- 
ing: 'I  admit  it,  because  it  results  from  my  thesis.'  .  .  . 
Provided  one  can  defend  himself  logically,  he  passes 
for  an  able  man.  The  character,  not  less  than  the 
intelligence,  is  ruined  by  disputation.  Men  shout 
until  they  are  hoarse;  they  make  use  of  insulting 
speeches  and  threats.  They  even  come  to  blows, 
bites,  and  buffetings.  Discussions  degenerate  into 
quarrels,  and  quarrelling  into  fighting." 

Perhaps  there  is  some  exaggeration  in  the  details  of 
this  picture,  but  the  background  is  exact.  "What  are 
the  contests  of  our  savants,"  said  a  Chancellor  of 
Paris,  "  if  not  real  cock-fights  ?  .  .  .  One  cock  struts 
up  to  another,  and  bristles  his  feathers.  Our  people 
do  the  same.  They  have  not  beaks  and  spurs  like  the 
cocks,  but  their  self-conceit  is  armed  with  a  redoubta- 
ble ergotJ'  ^  The  most  frequent  result  of  the  discus- 
sions was  not  the  elucidation  of  the  questions  in  dis- 
pute, but  the  embittering  and  exasperation  of  minds. 
Insults,  if  not  blows,  were  the  conclusion  of  many  a 
disputation.  At  Poitiers,  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
there  were  two  professors  of  physics  at  the  College  of 
St.  Martha,  one  of  whom,  following  Descartes,  taught 
the  theory  of  the  j)lenuin,  and  the  other  that  of  the 
vacuum,  after  Newton.  One  day  their  quarrel  became 
so  furious  that  the  Cartesian,  driven  to  extremes,  cried 
out:  "The  vacuuni  has  no  existence  except  in  your 
head ! "   (nou  datur  vacuum  nisi  in  capite  tuo). 

1  Lecoy  de  la  Marche,  op.  cit.,  p.  452.  According  to  some  authors, 
tlie  French  verl)  erf/oter  (to  cavil)  is  derived  from  the  ergot  (spurs) 
of  cocks.  But  it  is  more  probable  tliat  the  etymology  of  this  word 
is  from  the  conjunction  ergo,  with  which  the  disputants  prefaced 
the  conclusion  of  their  arguments. 


THE  FACULTIES  OF  ARTS  191 

IV 

The  Faculties  of  Arts  evidently  had  a  mixed  char- 
acter. As  schools  of  high  dialectic  and  philosophy, 
they  belonged  to  what  we  now  call  superior  instruc- 
tion; but,  as  schools  of  grammar  and  elementary 
acquirements  in  rhetoric  and  mathematics,  they  were 
the  doubtful  equivalent  of  that  special  order  of  in- 
struction which  has  been  distinguished  from  all  others 
under  the  title  of  secondary.  It  is  clear  that  very 
young  students  in  arts,  who  being  not  yet  fourteen  — 
the  minimum  age  for  the  determinance  —  were  pre- 
paring for  the  baccalaureate,  could  not  be  considered 
as  students  of  superior  instruction.  The  mixed  char- 
acter of  the  Faculty  of  Arts,  and  the  resemblance 
between  its  schools  and  modern  colleges  of  secondary 
instruction,  gradually  became  more  accentuated  in  the 
later  centuries  of  the  Middle  Ages,  when  the  Faculty 
was  obliged  to  bring  together  and  unite  not  only  the 
houses  of  study  called  colleges,  but  especially  tlie 
boarding-houses  called  pedagogies,^  both  of  them  de- 
pendencies of  the  university,  and  in  which  the 
majority  of  the  students  became  boarders.  — - -^ 

"In  the  fifteenth  century,"  says  Thurot,  "an  impor-1 
tant  revolution  was  effected  in  the  discipline  of  the 
Faculty  of  Arts.  The  majority  of  the  students,  even 
those  whose  home  was  in  the  city,  lived  in  college  dor?> 

1  We  distinguish  between  the  pedagogies  and  the  colleges,  because 
the  former  were  originally  grammar  schools,  while  the  colleges  were 
religious  houses  intended  especially  for  students  in  theology ;  but 
the  distinction  soon  vanishes,  and  the  word  "college"  is  applied 
to  every  school  where  young  men  were  instructed. 


192  ABELAED 

Imitories."  ^  The  revolution  signalized  by  Tliurot  be- 
gan long  before  the  fifteenth  century,  since  the  peda- 
gogies were  very  numerous  at  Paris  at  the  close  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  while  on  the  other  hand,  the  col- 
lege of  the  Sorbonne,  the  first  of  several  similar 
[eges,  dates  from  1257.^ 

A  question  of  discipline  was  certainly  the  chief 
determining  cause  of  this  considerable  change  in  the 
primitive  regulations  of  the  Faculty  of  Arts.  Given 
the  extreme  youth  of  the  greater  number  of  students 
in  arts,  and  it  is  plain  enough  that  it  was  dangerous 
to  leave  them  uncontrolled  in  the  street  of  Paris, 
lodging  where  they  could  in  the  houses  of  citizens  or 
in  hotels.  To  guard  them  against  the  perils  of  liberty, 
put  an  end  to  their  disorder,  and  quiet  their  turbu- 
lence, they  were  gathered  together  in  boarding-houses 
under  the  authority  of  a  pedagogue.  On  the  other 
hand,  certain  colleges  owed  their  origin  to  generous 
founders,  who,  to  aid  poor  students,  established  free 
boarding-bouses  where  they  might  find  food  and  shel- 

rter.  "In  the  twelfth  century,  and  for  a  long  time 
after,"  says  Crevier,  "the  colleges  were  not  schools 
where  lessons  were  given  to  those  desirous  of  learn- 

I    ing.  .  .  .     Tlieir  only  purpose  was  to  serve  as  a  resi- 

•  dence  for  young  students  under  a  master  who  con- 
ducted them  to  the  public  schools."* 

It  now  remains  to  be  explained  how  the  pedagogies 
and  colleges,  which  were  at  first  mere  boarding-houses 
or  asylums,  became  veritable  schools  with  special  mas- 

1  Thurot,  op.  cit.,  p.  92. 

2  See  next  chapter  concerning  the  foundation  of  the  college  of  the 
Sorbonne.  *  Crevier,  t.  i,  p.  271. 


THE  FACULTIES  OF  ARTS  193 

ters,  attracting,  by  degrees,  nearly  all  the  students  of 
the  Faculty  of  Arts,  and  gradually  engrossing  instruc- 
tion, until,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  the  schools  in 
the  Eue  du  Fouarre  were  finally  closed,  and  the  col- 
leges absorbed  the  entire  Faculty  of  Arts.^ 

There  were  always  grammar  schools  at  Paris,  and 
grammar  then  embraced  the  elements  of  literature, 
and  included  the  study  and  explanation  of  the  poets. 
These  schools  gradually  developed  until  logic  was 
almost  the  only  subject  left  for  exclusive  treatment 
by  the  Faculty  of  Arts.  Grammar  schools  were  neces- 
sary, moreover,  to  instruct  children  in  reading,  writing, 
the  elements  of  grammar,  and  ordinary  rhetoric,  that 
is  to  say,  the  formulas  to  be  employed  in  writing  a  let- 
ter to  a  bishop  or  a  nobleman ;  and  also  the  elements 
of  calculation,  or  what  was  then  called  algorism.  They 
soon  began  to  teach  the  first  principles  of  logic  in 
these  schools,  according  to  the  Summulce  of  Petrus 
Hispanus,'^  and  thus  prepared  the  scholars,  by  the 
time  they  were  twelve  or  thirteen  years  old,  to  follow 
the  logic  courses  of  the  Faculty  of  Arts.  In  the 
earliest  times  the  pedagogues,  or  heads  of  boarding- 
houses,  led  their  pupils  to  the  schools  of  the  Rue  du 
Fouarre.  After  a  while  it  was  found  more  conven- 
ient to  have  them  instructed  inside  the  houses.  The 
jiedagogy  became  a  complete  and  enclosed  college . 
The  Rue  du  Fouarre  saw  the  number  of  its  students 

1  At  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  the  colleges  and  pedagogies 
contained  nearly  all  the  students  in  arts.  In  1469  the  Faculty  of 
Arts  had  decided  not  to  give  certificates  of  studies  except  to  sutli 
scholars  as  resided  either  in  a  pedagogy,  a  college,  with  their 
parents,  or  with  some  meraher  of  the  university,  whom  they  served 
gratuitously.  2  gee  above,  p.  178. 


IM  ABELARD 

generally  diminish,  and  ended  by  being  entirely  de- 
serted. "In  1460,"  says  Thurot,  "the  majority  of  the 
regents  of  the  Nation  of  France  taught  in  the  board- 
ing-houses. .  .  .  What  gave  the  final  blow  to  public 
instruction  was  the  obligation  to  reside  in  the  peda- 
gogies and  colleges,  which  was  imposed,  on  the  masters 
about  1524.  It  was  necessary  thereafter  to  submit 
to  this  obligation  if  one  aspired  to  the  functions  of 
Rector,  Procurator  of  Nations,  or  Dean  of  Faculties." 

It  was  thus  that  the  Faculty  of  Arts  gradually 
became  blended  with  the  colleges,  of  which  it  was  no 
longer,  one  might  say,  anything  more  than  the  feder- 
ation. These  colleges  had  become  very  numerous: 
there  were  some  fifty  of  them  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
among  which,  it  is  true,  a  certain  number  were  theo- 
logical colleges  or  religious  houses,  or  else  hospitable 
houses  opened  to  foreign  students ;  for  example,  the 
Scotch  college,  founded  in  1326,  and  that  of  the 
Lombards,  in  1334.  But  many  others,  such  as  Har- 
court  College  (1280)  and  the  famous  college  of  Mon- 
taigu  (1314),  seem  to  have  been  from  the  outset  real 
schools  of  secondary  instruction.^ 

However  this  may  be,  the  institution  of  colleges 
at  Paris  rendered  the  greatest  service  to  the  Faculty 
of  Arts.  And  it  is  not  uninteresting  to  dwell  on  the 
meaning  of  this  evolution  imposed  by  the  force  of 
circumstances  on  the  university  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
obliging  it  to  pass  from  the  almost  absolute  liberty  of 
early  times  to  the  regime  of  seclusion  and  dormitory 

1  See  in  Vallet  de  Viriville  {op.  cit.,  p.  166)  the  enumeration  of 
the  colleges  established  in  Paris  before  the  Revolution.  This  list 
includes  more  than  eighty  establishments. 


THE   FACULTIES  OF  ARTS  195 

life  and  from  the  system  of  public  courses  to  that  of 
private  classes  taught  within  the  colleges.  It  was 
a  preliminary  step  toward  the  necessary  distinction 
between  the  student  in  the  school  and  the  student  in 
the  university;  between  secondary  and  superior  in- 
struction, between  what  is  suitable  for  children  of 
from  twelve  to  fifteen  years,  or  even  above  that,  and 
students  of  twenty.  Thenceforward  there  was  more 
labor  and  discipline  on  the  part  of  the  pupils,  and 
more  regularity  and  assiduity  on  the  parts  of  the 
masters.  Moreover,  the  university  kept  a  close  watch 
on  these  establishments  incorporated  with  itself;  it 
exacted  guarantees  from  the  headmasters  or  prin- 
cipals who  directed  them;  it  obliged  its  rectors  to 
visit  them  once  a  year;  and,  in  1445,  it  declared 
solemnly  that  "it  existed  almost  entirely  in  its  col- 
leges, and  had  been  preserved  by  them  alone  from 
total  destruction  during  the  misfortunes  of  the  wars 
that  had  afflicted  France."  * 

Bologna  also  had  its  colleges ;  that  is,  says  Savigny, 
its  "corporations  of  poor  students  supported  by  a 
founder  and  living  under  a  common  surveillance."  ^ 
But  these  colleges,  which  seem  to  have  been  nothing 
more  than  hospitable  houses  where  foreign  students 
installed  themselves,  had  no  importance  and  played 
no  part  in  the  constitution  of  the  Italian  universities. 

It  was  otherwise  in  England,  where  "  the  collegiate 
system,"  says  Laurie,  "so  soon  dwarfed  the  univer- 

^  Crevier,  t.  iv,  p.  134. 

2  Savigny,  ch.  xxi,  71 :  for  example,  the  collegium  Avenionense, 
founded  in  1263,  and  the  Collegium  Hispanicum,  founded  by  the 
Popes  in  1364. 


196  ABELARD 

sity."  ^  Laurie  attributes  the  foundation  of  colleges 
to  the  same  causes  that  I  have  indicated:  on  one 
hand,  the  difficulty  of  lodging  a  great  number  of  stu- 
dents conveniently  in  private  houses,  and  on  the 
other,  the  inconvenience  of  leaving  very  young  persons 
exposed  to  the  myriad  temptations  of  city  life,  with- 
out restraint.  At  first  there  were  "halls,"  "hostels" 
(Jiospitia),  regulated  lodging-houses,  where  the  stu- 
dents resided  at  their  own  cost,  under  the  supervision 
of  a  principal  appointed  by  the  chancellor.^  At  Cam- 
bridge there  were  the  Hospitia  artistarum  and  Hospitia 
juristarum.  To  the  hospitia  succeeded  the  colleges; 
that  is  to  say,  endowed  halls,  where  the  students 
had  free  quarters,  but  where  they  had,  in  return,  to 
submit  to  the  obligations  imposed  by  the  college 
statutes. 

"The  most  important  of  the  early  college  founda- 
tions of  England,"  says  Laurie,  "  was  that  of  Walter 
de  Merton,  chancellor  of  the  kingdom,  in  1264,  called 
*  Domus  scliolarium  de  Merton.''  Merton  himself  must 
have  had  his  eye  on  the  Sorbonne.  Merton's  house 
was  substantially  what  we  should  now  call  a  secular 
college.  No  'religious  person,'  that  is,  no  monk  or 
friar,  was  to  be  admitted.  His  aim  was  to  produce 
a  constant  succession  of  scholars  devoted  to  the 
pursuits  of  literature."' 

1  Laurie,  op.  cit.,  p.  245.  2  Mullinger,  op  cit.,  p.  217. 

8  Laurie,  op.  cit.,  p.  252.  It  was  at  Merton  College  that  Duns 
Scotius  studied,  "the  subtle  doctor"  (1275-1305),  who  entered  the 
Franciscan  order,  and  whose  disciples  were  in  controversy  with  the 
Thomists,  the  Dominicans,  disciples  of  Thomas  Aquinas.  William 
of  Occam,  "the  prince  of  Nominalists"  {1280-l.'l47),  was  educated 
at  the  same  college.    He  taught  at  Oxford  and  at  Paris. 


THE   FACULTIES   OF  ARTS  197 

Other  colleges  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge  were 
established  on  the  model  of  Merton:  notably,  at 
Oxford,  University  Hall  (1280),  Exeter  College 
(1314),  Queen's  College  (1340),  etc.;  at  Cambridge, 
Clare  Hall  (1320),  Pembroke  Hall  (1343),  Trinity 
Hall  (1350),  etc.^  In  England  as  in  France,  the  col- 
legiate system  replaced  the  regime  of  the  day  school, 
of  free  and  independent  life.  The  colleges  of  Oxford 
and  Cambridge,  like  those  of  Paris,  became  essential 
elements  of  the  university,  true  centres  of  education 
and  instruction.  Doubtless  the  establishment  of  col- 
leges had  been  prepared  for,  from  the  beginning 
of  the  universities,  by  the  two  facts :  1st,  that  stu- 
dents often  lodged  at  the  houses  of  their  professors ; 
2d,  that  in  the  Faculty  of  Arts  at  least  (notably  at 
Prague)  the  regents  voluntarily  gave  lessons  in  their 
own  houses ;  so  that,  from  these  small  beginnings,  the 
colleges  and  their  classes  followed  by  a  natural  evo- 
lution. It  is  none  the  less  true  that  the  face  of  things 
was  changed.  The  universities  had  made  a  great 
experiment  in  the  day  school  for  students  of  all  ages. 
And  it  must  be  thoroughly  recognized  that  this  ex- 
periment, which  people  seem  to  wish  to  renew  in  our 
day,^  has  failed,  since  the  Middle  Ages,  as  they  were 
ending,  turned  into  another  path,  and  even  replaced 
by  the  strictest  sort  of  discipline  the  liberty  of  earlier 
days. 

i  See  in  Vallet  de  Viriville  (op.  cit.,  pp.  13G  and  187),  the  list  of 
colleges  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge. 

*  "  It  is  curious  to  note,"  says  Laurie,  "  that  in  these  latter  days 
the  non-collegiate  or  unattached  system  of  the  thirteenth  and  four- 
teenth centuries  has  been  revived.  Undergraduates  may  now  live 
in  licensed  lodging-houses,  and  we  may  yet  see  restored,  both  in 
England  and  in  Scotland,  the  hostels  of  the  Middle  Ayes." 


198  ABELARD 

On  the  other  hand,  the  transformation  wrought  in 
the  disciplinary  and  pedagogic  regulations  of  the 
Faculty  of  Arts  had  this  necessary  consequence : 
that,  at  least  in  Paris,  this  Faculty,  thenceforward 
dismembered,  as  one  might  say,  and  whose  very 
numerous  regents  dispersed  themselves  among  divers 
colleges,  had  no  longer  more  than  a  nominal  unity. 
Finally,  its  character  as  a  school  of  preparatory,  and, 
to  repeat  the  word,  "secondary,"  instruction,  grad- 
ually became  more  defined  so  that  after  the  sixteenth 
century  the  higher  movement  in  literature  and  science 
was  developed  apart  from  it.  It.  retains  nothing  but 
elementary  classical  instruction,  and  that  in  such 
measure  as  is  permitted  it  by  the  constantly  increas- 
ing activity  of  the  religious  orders,  and  particularly 
of  the  Jesuits,  thus  leaving  an  open  field,  in  the 
modern  universities,  to  the  Faculties  of  Philosophy, 
Science,  and  Letters. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  FACULTIES  OF  THEOLOGY 

I.  The  Superior  Faculties  —  Primacy  of  the  Faculty  of  Theology — 
The  other  arts  and  sciences  assistants  of  the  divine  science  —  The 
Theological  Faculty  of  Paris,  the  model  of  all  similar  Faculties  — 
Its  authority  as  a  council  in  the  questions  of  doctrine  —  Federa- 
tion of  convents  and  colleges  —  Dominicans  and  Franciscans  — 
Foundation  of  tlie  college  of  Sorbonne  —  II.  Books  and  methods  — 
The  Bible  and  the  Book  of  Sentences  by  Peter  Lombard  —  Expo- 
sition and  discussion  —  Subtilities  and  cavilling — The  geometrical 
method  applied  to  theological  subjects  —  Aridity  of  this  method 
of  teaching  —  Criticisms  of  Gerson  and  of  Clemengis  —  Exam- 
ples of  the  questions  debated  in  the  theological  schools  —  Relation 
of  theological  and  philosophical  studies. 


Had  I  followed  what  might  be  called  the  order  of 
precedence,  it  is  not  with  the  Faculty  of  Arts  that  I 
should  have  begun  my  examination  of  the  studies  and 
methods  of  instruction  in  the  universities.  In  reality 
the  Faculty  of  Arts  took  the  lowest  rank,  preceded,  as 
it  was,  by  the  so-called  superior  Faculties  of  Theology, 
Law,  and  Medicine.  But  the  arts  serving  as  a  general 
preparation  and  introduction  to  the  special  sciences, 
it  was  logical  and  necessary  to  study  in  the  first  place 
the  organization  of  instruction  in  the  Faculty  of  Arts. 

Among  the  special  sciences,  that  of  theology  occu- 
pied the  first  place,  at  least  in  the  beginning.     The 

199 


200  ABELARD 

Sacra  Facultas,  as  it  was  called,  was  considered  supe- 
rior to  all  the  others.^  It  could  not  have  been  otherwise 
at  a  time  when  the  Church  was  still  all-powerful, 
when  universities  were  founded  under  the  patronage 
of  Popes  and  had  a  thoroughly  ecclesiastical  character, 
and  when  study  in  general  seemed  to  have  no  other 
aim  than  that  of  serving  religion.^ 
/     Theology  was  represented  as  the  first  of  arts,  as  the 
'  supreme  science  of  which  the  others  could  not  be  more 
,_th^n  the  respectful  handmaidens. 

"Logic  is  good,"  said  Jacques  de  Vitry,*  passing  in 
review  the  seven  liberal  arts,  "for  it  teaches  us  to 
distinguish  truth  from  falsehood;  grammar  is  good, 
for  it  teaches  how  to  speak  and  write  correctly; 
rhetoric  is  good,  for  it  teaches  how  to  speak  elegantly 
and  to  persuade.  Good,  too,  are  geometry,  which 
teaches  how  to  measure  the  earth,  the  domain  of  our 
bodies;  arithmetic,  or  the  art  of  computing,  which 
enables  us  to  estimate  the  fewness  of  our  days ;  music, 
which  reminds  us  of  the  sweet  chant  of  the  blessed; 
astronomy,  which  causes  us  to  consider  the  celestial 
bodies  and  the  stars  shining  resplendently  before  God. 
But  far  better  is  theology,  which  alone  can  be  truly 
called  a  liberal  art,  since  it  alone  delivers  from  its 
woes  the  human  soul."  The  seven  arts  were  thus  dis- 
possessed, in  favor   of  theology,  of  their   beautiful 

* .  .  .  Prseest  reUquis  sicut  superior,  said  Alexander  IV,  in  a 
Bull  of  1256.     Chartularium.  Univ.  Parix.,  t.  i,  p.  MS. 

2 .  .  .  Throlot/ia  imperat  aliis  .•icientii.i,  ut  domina,  et  illm  sibi, 
vt  famrtlx,  ohseqvnntur.  Ad  hanc  sinf/ulx  in  viis  suis  levant  et 
hahent  intvitvm.     Chartularinm,  etc.,  p.  343. 

*  Jacques  do  Vitry,  a  Frencli  preacher,  died  in  1244,  cited  by 
M.  Lecoy  de  la  Marche,  op.  cit.,  p.  458. 


THE   FACULTIES   OF   THEOLOGY  201 

qualification  of  liberal ;  and  were  chiefly  appreciated 
and  lauded  in  view  of  their  moral  and  religious  bear- 
ing; that  is  to  say,  of  the  services  they  might  render 
to  religion. 

It  was  at  Paris,  "the  theological  university  par 
excellence,"  that  theological  studies  were  established 
soonest  and  most  firmly.  It  was  in  the  image  of  the^ 
Faculty  of  Paris  that  the  Popes  successively  organized 
other  Faculties,  some  instituted  simultaneously  with 
the  university  itself,  as  in  the  case  of  Toulouse, 
Prague,  Vienna,^  etc.,  and  others  superadded  to  uni- 
versities that  had  long  been  flourishing,  like  the 
Faculty  of  Theology  at  Bologna,  created  in  1362. 
And  if  it  is  exact  to  say  in  general,  yet  without  for- 
getting local  differences,  that  instruction  in  all  subjects 
was  practically  tlie  same  in  all  of  the  universities, 
this  observation  is  specially  applicable  to  instruc- 
tion in  theology,  which  being  more  directly  watched 
over  and  regulated  by  the  Church,  and,  by  the  very 
nature  of  its  object  allowing  less  latitude  than  other 
studies,  necessarily  presented  more  uniformity  and 
repeated  itself  everywhere  under  identical  conditions. 

What,  among  other  things,  demonstrates  the  pecul- 
iar importance  attached  to  theology,  is  the  fact  that 
the  study  of  it  was  far  more  prolonged  than  was  tlie 
case  with  any  other  branch  of  knowledge.  One  could 
be  a  master  of  arts  at  twenty-one ;  a  doctor  of  law  or 
of  medicine  at  twenty-six  or  twenty-seven;  but  a 
doctorate  of  theology  could  not  be   obtained  before 


1  The  statutes  of  the  Theological  Faculty  of  Vienna,  promulgated 
in  1389,  establish  a  faithful  reproduction  of  the  customs  followed  in 
the  Theological  Faculty  of  Paris. 


202  ABELARD 

completing  the  thirty -fifth  year.*  Consequently  this 
doctorate  was  especially  appreciated  and  honored. 
"The  qualification  of  doctor  of  theology,"  says  Cre- 
vier,  "  was  so  highly  esteemed  at  that  period  "  (that 
is  to  say,  in  the  fourteenth  century)  "  that  Pope  John 
XXII,  who  did  not  possess  it,  feared  that  use  might 
be  made  of  that  fact  to  lessen  his  authority.'^ 

The  importance  of  the  Theological  Faculty  of  Paris 
did  not  arise  wholly  from  the  fact  that  it  was  a  teach- 
ing body,  conferring  degrees  much  sought  after,  and 
making  doctors  such  as  Albertus  Magnus  and  Thomas 
Aquinas.  In  reality,  it  constituted  for  the  Church 
of  Rome  and  for  all  Christendom  a  sort  of  consulting 
committee  in  ecclesiastical  matters;  it  was  "the  per- 
manent council  of  the  Gauls,"  whose  right  to  give 
doctrinal  advice  in  matters  of  faith  was  recognized, 
and  which  more  than  once  permitted  itself  to  differ  in 
opinion  with  the  Popes.'  King  Charles  VI,  in  a 
formal  declaration  of  1414,  set  forth  that  "the  mem- 
bers of  the  Paris  Faculty  of  Theology  hold  the  first 
rank  in  the  science  of  sacred  letters."*  And  he 
added:  "The  people  recognize  this  fact,  and  the 
Court  of  Home  has  itself  admitted  it  when,  on  sev- 

1  Robert  do  Cour^on  did  not  require  more  than  eight  years  to  he 
devoted  to  theological  studies ;  but  the  course  was  prolonged  to 
fourteen  years  at  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century. 

2  Crevier,  t.  ii,  p.  321. 

8  For  example,  when,  in  13;31,  the  Faculty  refused  to  adopt  the 
opinions  of  John  XXII,  on  "  the  beatific  vision  of  the  saints." 
In  sending  the  decision  of  the  Faculty  to  the  Pope,  the  King  of 
France  a<ljoined  to  it  this  curious  commentary:  "Our  doctors 
know  better  what  is  to  be  believed  in  matters  of  faith  than  the 
jurists  and  clerics  who  compose  your  Court,  and  who  know  little 
or  nothing  of  theology."  *  Crevier,  t.  iii,  p.  379. 


THE   FACULTIES   OF  THEOLOGY  203 

eral  occasions,  both  former  and  recent,  ambiguity  or 
doubt  had  arisen  concerning  the  doctrines  of  the 
Christian  religion,  it  has  not  disdained  to  address 
itself  to  the  council  of  the  faith  residing  in  Paris  in 
order  to  obtain  a  clear  decision  on  these  points." 

What  gave  its  peculiar  force  and  original  character 
to  the  Theological  Faculty  of  Paris  was  the  fact  that 
it  was  not  merely  a  body  of  professors :  it  was,  as  it 
has  been  very  well  defined  by  Thurot,  "  a  federation 
of  religious  and  secular  communities."^  Its  roots 
penetrated  not  solely  into  the  secular  colleges,  but 
also  into  the  convents  of  the  various  religious  orders. 
It  benefited,  in  consequence,  by  whatever  there  was 
of  vitality  and  power  in  these  church  corporations. 

As  a  rule,  both  masters  and  students  belonged 
either  to  the  order  of  St.  Dominic,  or  to  one  of  the 
four  mendicant  orders  —  the  Franciscans,  the  Augus- 
tinians,  the  Jacobins,  and  the  Carmelites  —  or  other 
communities.  In  the  majority  of  the  convents  there 
were  public  chairs  of  theology,  whose  incumbents 
were  members  of  the  Faculty.  In  1253,  for  instance, 
there  were  twelve  professors  of  theology,^  nine  of 
whom  taught  in  the  convents.  So,  too,  the  grea"t~^ 
majority  of  students  and  aspirants  to  the  baccalaureate    I 

and  the  doctorate  were  members  of  a  religious  order. J 

Thus,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  from  1373  to  1398, 
out  of  one  hundred  and  ninety-two  bachelors  who 
received  the  license,  one  hundred  and  two  belonged 
to  mendicant  orders. 

1  Thurot,  op.  cit.,  p.  132. 

2  In  1207  Innocent  III  had  limited  the  number  of  chairs  in  the 
Theological  Faculty  of  Paris  to  eight ;  but  the  constantly  increasing 
number  of  students  rendered  it  necessary  to  establish  four  more. 


204  ABELARD 

The  Dominicans  had  obtained  authority  to  establish 

a  chair  of  theology  in  their  convent  in  1229;    they 

had  a  second  one  later  on.     And  their  example  was 

'    followed  by  the  other  communities.     The  two  greatest 

I   doctors  of  the  Middle  Ages,  Albertus  Magnus,  "the 

1  universal  doctor, "  ^  and  his  pupil,  Thomas  Aquinas, 

i   "  the  angel  of  the  schools, "  ^  taught  in  the  Domini- 

»  can   convent.      In  that  of   the    Franciscans   taught 

j  Alexander  of  Hales, ^  "the  irrefragable  doctor,"  who 

LjKas  the  master  of  St.  Bonaventure. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  this  participation  of  the 
religious  orders  in  the  teaching  of  theology  called  out 
many  complaints  on  the  part  of  the  university.  "  This 
partition  is  harmful  and  unjust,"  said  the  masters  of 
the  university  about  the  year  1250;  "unjust  because 
we  are  seculars  by  origin,  and  the  regulars  come  to 
deprive  us  of  the  heritage  of  our  fathers."*  But  the 
regulars,  being  aided  by  the  pontifical  power,  gained 
the  day.  The  Faculty  of  Theology  remained  a  collec- 
tive body  having  its  ramifications  in  all  the  convents. 
Each  newly  founded  religious  order  claimed  to  par- 
ticipate, by  means  of  some  of  its  own  members,  in 
the  university  teaching  of  theology;  and  when,  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  Loyola  created  the  famous  society 

1  Albert  the  Great  (1193-1280)  taught  at  Paris  ahout  1236.  Con- 
cerning Albert  the  (ireat,  see  the  already  cited  work  of  M. 
d'Assailly. 

2  Thomas  Aquinas  (1227-1274)  followed  his  master,  Albertus 
Magnus,  to  Paris,  and  there  expounded  the  Book  of  the  SP7iU'nc('S 
and  Holy  Scripture.  He  was  born  in  Italy.  His  works  have 
been  reprinted  many  times,  and  comprise  more  than  twenty  folio 
volumes. 

'  Alexander  of  Hales,  born  in  England  in  1245. 
«  Crevier,  t.  i,  p.  397. 


THE  FACULTIES  OF  THEOLOGY  205 

which  was  to  take  so  eminent  a  place  in  the  Catholic 
Church,  there  were  Jesuit  professors  of  theology,  at 
least  in  certain  Faculties.^ 

The  Faculty  of  Theology,  however,  did  not  depend 
solely  on  the  religious  congregations,  the  solid  studies 
pursued  within  the  convents,^  and  the  masters  who 
taught  there  in  the  name  of  the  university;  it  also 
included  the  theological  colleges  and  secular  establish- 
ments. The  most  celebrated  of  these  is  that  which 
became  famous  under  the  name  of  "  Sorbonne,"  organ- 
ized in  1257  by  Robert  de  Sorbon,  chaplain  to  Louis  IX. 
"Before  Robert  de  Sorbon,"  says  Crevier,  "no  college 
for  secular  students  in  theology  had  been  established 
at  Paris.  He  wished  to  procure  for  them  this  advan- 
tage, already  enjoyed  by  several  of  the  regulars,  and 
he  founded  a  house  for  sixteen  poor  students  in  theol- 
ogy, four  from  each  of  the  Nations  composing  the 
university."*  By  his  letters  patent  of  1257,  Louis 
IX  made  formal  cession  to  his  chaplain  of  "  a  house 
situated  at  Paris  in  the  rue  Coupe  Gueule,  before  the 
palace  of  the  Hot  Baths  of  Julian."  *  The  foundation 
was  confirmed  in  1259  by  a  letter  from  Pope  Alexander 
IV.  Such  Avere  the  modest  beginnings,  under  the 
name  of  the  "Congregation  of  poor  masters  of  the 
Sorbonne,"  of  a  building  which  was  to  play  such  a 

1  At  Poitiers,  for  example,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  the  Jesuits 
had  two  chairs  of  theology  in  their  college  of  Ste.  Marthe. 

2  On  theological  studies  in  the  convents,  see  Thurot,  p.  113  et  seq. 
8  Crevier,  t.  i,  p.  434. 

*  Chartularium  Univ.  Paris.,  t.  i,  p.  247.  The  Sorbonne  seems 
to  have  been  the  model  of  Merton  College  in  England.  So  likewise 
the  University  Hall,  founded  at  Oxford  in  1280,  and  intended  for 
four  masters  to  live  together  and  study  theology. 


206  ABELARD 

brilliant  part  in  the  future  career  of  the  University 
of  Paris,  and  which  absorbed  the  Faculty  of  Theology, 
whose  principal  seat  it  became.^  They  were  begin- 
nings, moreover,  at  which  it  has  never  blushed,  for 
the  Sorbonne  was  founded,  as  has  been  seen,  in  a 
spirit  of  charity  and  benevolence  toward  the  poorest 
students,  and  to  a  certain  extent,  also,  in  a  spirit  of 
liberty,  by  the  secular  clergy  in  order  to  contend 
against  the  regulars.  And  might  not  these  seculars 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  opposed  as  they  were  to 
the  invading  corporations,  be  considered  as  in  a  sense 
the  laity  of  that  age? 

However  that  may  be,  the  college  of  the  Sorbonne 
soon  had  its  own  public  courses  in  theology.  Other 
colleges,  likewise  composed  exclusively  of  theologians, 
were  founded  between  1250  and  1300,^  Even  those 
which  had  been  originally  under  the  control  of  the 
Faculty  of  Arts  reserved  a  certain  number  of  places 
for  students  of  theology :  among  these,  the  college  of 
Navarre,  established  on  the  heights  of  St.  Genevieve 
in  1304,  took  the  first  rank.^  "The  houses  of  Sor- 
bonne and  of  Navarre, "  says  Thurot,  "  were  almost  a 
match,  by  themselves  alone,  for  the  religious  orders. 
They  gave  the  Faculty  of  Theology  the  greater  number 
and  the  most  distinguished  of  its  secular  masters." 

It  was  in  the  convents  and  colleges,  then,  that  the 

1  Even  to-day  "  the  Sorbonne  "  is  a  synonym  for  the  group  of 
Faculties  which  are  the  heirs  of  the  University  of  Paris. 

2  See  Thurot,  des  CommunauUa  sicvlieres  ou  colleges,  op.  cit., 
p.  122  et  seq. 

8  The  college  of  Navarre,  founded  by  Queen  Jeanne  of  Navarre, 
wife  of  Philip  the  Fair,  was  intended  to  receive  seventy  poor  stu- 
dents, of  whom  twenty  were  to  be  theologians. 


THE  FACULTIES  OF  THEOLOGY  207 

Faculty  of  Theology  had  its  seat:  it  was  there  that 
masters  and  pupils  exercised  themselves,  the  one  in 
disputations  and  in  preaching,  and  the  others  in 
instruction.  From  the  commencement  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  the  special  activity  of  the  Faculty, 
aside  from  the  studies  undertaken  and  the  instruction 
given  in  the  communities,  seems  to  have  been  visible 
chiefly  in  the  public  acts  which  preceded  the  bacca- 
laureate and  the  mastership.  "Superintendence  of 
these  acts  became  the  principal  occupation  of  the 
masters."  Instruction  was  confided  almost  entirely 
to  the  bachelors :  what  proves  this  is  that  the  reform 
of  1452  consisted  in  requiring  the  masters  to  give  a 
lecture  once  a  fortnight. 

II 

One  can  make  short  work  of  naming  the  books 
taught  and  studied  in  the  Faculty  of  Theology:  the 
Bible,  quite  naturally,^  and  Peter  Lombard's  book  of 
Sentences.  Thence  arose  the  names  of  Bihlici  and  of 
Sententiarii  applied  to  bachelors  in  theology  accord- 
ing as  they  were  authorized  to  make  their  courses 
in  the  Bible  or  the  Sentences.  It  is  to  be  noted  that 
one  was  a  Bihlicus  before  becoming,  three  years  later, 
a  Sententiarius ;  thus  giving  the  impression  that  the 
Bible  was  easier  to  explain  or  of  less  importance  than 
the  compilation  edited  by  Peter  Lombard.  The  same 
conviction  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  the  ordinary 
lecture,    which   was   reserved   for   the   masters,    and 

^  The  Bible  was  probably  read  in  the  Latin  translation  made  in 
the  fourth  century  by  St.  Jerome,  and  called  the  Vulgate. 


208  ABELARB 

which  according  to  usage  in  all  the  Faculties  was 
given  before  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning,  also  dealt 
with  the  book  of  the  Sentences.  Holy  Scripture  was 
explained  in  the  extraordinary  courses,^ 

What  then  was  this  book  by  Peter  Lombard  which 
occupied  so  lofty  a  position,  and  was  placed  on  a 
footing  of  equality,  to  say  the  least,  with  the  Bible 
itself  ?  Simply  a  collection,  a  methodical  arrange- 
ment of  extracts,  constituting  a  complete  treatise  on 
theology,  ^  under  the  form  of  sentences  and  maxims ; 
or  in  other  words,  of  thoughts  borrowed  either  from 
the  Scriptures  or  the  Fathers  of  the  Church.  It  was 
divided  into  four  parts.  The  first  treated  of  God  and 
the  Trinity;  the  second,  of  the  creation,  and  the  rela- 
tions between  the  visible  and  the  invisible  worlds; 
the  third,  of  the  redemption,  faith,  hope,  and  char- 
ity, the  virtues,  and  sin;  the  fourth,  of  the  sacra- 
ments. 

It  was  to  this  theological  manual  that  the  ordinary 
methods  of  scholastic  teaching,  exposition,  and  dis- 
cussion were  applied.  The  regulations  of  the  reform 
of  1366  prescribed  to  both  bachelors  and  Sententiarii 
the  reading  of  the  very  text  of  Peter  Lombard,  and 
its  exposition  phrase  by  phrase.  But  the  method  of 
"questions"  was  chiefly  employed:  the  opinions  of 
theologians  of  recognized  authority  were  pitted  against 
each  other;  the  pros  and  cons  were  urged  in  the  form 
of  syllogisms.  But  these  premeditated  discussions, 
which  were  in  fact  mere  monologues,  since  the  pro- 

1  Thurot,  p.  110. 

2  Crevier  is  of  opinion,  however,  that  Lombard  "had  omitted 
certain  very  important  matters."    Crevier,  t.  i,  p.  204. 


THE  FACULTIES  OF  THEOLOGY  209 

fessor  did  all  the  talking, — making  both  question 
and  answer  and  defending  in  turn  the  two  contrary 
opinions  before  concluding, —  had  nothing  spontane- 
ous about  them :  as  a  rule,  they  were  read ;  although 
products  of  the  same  method  as  the  lectures  of  Abe- 
lard,  they  had  none  of  the  life  and  animation  which 
characterized  the  teaching  of  the  great  professor  of 
the  twelfth  century.  Though  the  reform  of  1366 
prohibited  the  bachelors,  when  making  their  courses, 
from  having  anything  but  a  notebook  to  assist  their 
memory  in  recalling  the  principal  divisions,  argu- 
ments, and  quotations  of  their  lectures,  yet  they 
none  the  less  persisted  in  a  custom  which  better 
suited  the  laziness  or  the  intellectual  mediocrity  of 
the  masters.  The  bachelors  were  often  observed 
reading  argumentations  which  they  had  not  composed 
themselves.^ 

Crevier  has  defined  theological  instruction  as  a 
whole  during  the  Middle  Ages  with  sufficient  clear- 
ness.^ According  to  him,  scholastic  theology  must 
have  had  three  principal  characteristics.  First,  It  re- 
united in  one  body  of  doctrine,  or  one  general  system, 
all  questions  relating  to  religion ;  such  is,  in  fact,  the 
essential  merit  of  the  book  of  the  Sentences.  Second, 
It  treated  these  questions  not  by  authority  alone,  but 
in  part  by  reasoning;  on  condition,  be  it  understood, 
tliat  the  ever-docile  reason  should  submit  itself  to  the 
demonstration  of  traditional  beliefs:  as  soon  as  one 

1  At  the  period  of  the  reform  of  1452  the  bachelors  were  autlior- 
ized  to  read  their  lectures,  but  they  were  recouimeuded  to  take 
care  tliat  they  were  composed  by  themselves. 

•^  Crevier,  t.  i,  p.  100  et  seq. 


210  ABELARD 

departed  from  tradition  he  was  denounced  as  heretical 
and  counted  as  naught.  In  1248  propositions  like 
the  following  were  everywhere  esteemed  erroneous 
and  heretical:  "There  are  many  eternal  verities 
which  are  not  God."  "He  whose  natural  dispositions 
are  greater,  will  have  a  greater  share  of  grace." 
Finally,  it  employed  "the  geometrical  style,"  and  pro- 
ceeded by  axioms,  theorems,  and  corollaries.  Founded 
on  revealed  truth,  on  dogmas  whose  authority  nobody 
then  dreamed  of  contesting,  theology  could,  in  fact, 
like  geometry,  which  rests  upon  self-evident  princi- 
ples, be  built  up  entirely  by  pure  deduction  and  rest 
on  syllogisms.  No  appeal  was  made  to  feeling  in 
teaching  religion;  just  as  no  appeal  was  made  to 
experience  in  teaching  philosophy.  There  being  no 
criterion  of  truth  but  the  agreement  between  conse- 
quences and  principles  admitted  as  beyond  discussion, 
there  resulted  an  apparently  rigorous  body  of  instruc- 
tion, solid  in  proportion  as  the  bases  of  its  perpetual 
reasoning  were  solid,  but  desperately  dry,  and  as  cold 
as  geometry. 

Even  contemporaries  —  for  example,  Gerson  ^  —  were 
under  no  illusions  regarding  the  defects  of  such  a 
method.  They  reproached  it  for  insisting  compla- 
cently on  useless  questions  while  neglecting  essential 
points  of  doctrine;  for  plunging  into  vain  curiosi- 
ties, and,  as  Crevier  says,  "  into  dialectical  bickerings 
and  metaphysical  abstractions."'^  Lost  in  the  mirage 
of  their  subtile  discussions,  these  logicians  of  theology 
forgot  the   art  of   preaching;   they  could  no  longer 

•  Gerson,  Contra  vanam  curiositatem  in  negotio  fidei. 
3  Crevier,  t.  iii,  p.  182. 


THE  FACULTIES  OF  THEOLOGY  211 

speak  to  tlie  heart,  move  souls,  or  communicate  faith ; 
they  knew  nothing  save  how  to  argue,  distinguish 
and  conclude.  On  the  other  hand,  they  plunged  into 
vain  and  sometimes  ridiculous  researches,  and.  Popes 
themselves, —  as  for  instance,  Clement  VII, — treated 
them  as  "visionaries."^  In  theology  as  in  philoso- 
phy, life  drew  further  and  further  apart  from  this 
tiresome  accumulation  of  syllogisms;  reality  escaped 
from  these  refined  abstractions ;  and  the  sterile  effort 
of  theological  dialectic  no  more  resulted  in  assuring 
the  progress  of  faith  and  practical  devotion,  than  the 
subtleties  of  philosophy  assisted  in  arriving  at  a 
singly  new  scientific  fact.  "  The  acute  argumenta- 
tion of  our  theologians,"  said  Clemengis,^  "have  at 
first  glance  something  shrewd  and  ingenious  about 
them ;  but  if  you  cast  away  the  husk  and  envelope  of 
the  words  and  try  to  find  the  fruit,  they  vanish  into 
smoke,  because  they  are  empty  within." 

Let  me  cite  some  examples  of  the  theological  prob- 
lems to  which  grave  doctors  consecrated  all  the  re- 
sources of  their  logic.  "In  order  to  convince  the 
least  instructed,"  says  an  autlior,  who  is  nevertheless 
very  catholic,  M.  d'Assailly,^  "  one  must  choose  among 
a  thousand  such,  certain  of  these  inane  questions 
which  then  had  the  run  of  the  schools,  and  whose 
solution  it  is,  I  think,  superfluous  to  indicate."  — 
"What  is  the  interior  structure  of  Paradise?"  —  "Is 
the  body  of  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  clotlied  in  the 
Eucharist?  "  —  "  Is  the  water  changed  into  wine  before 

1  Ihid.,  p.  186. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  180.  Clemengis  died  in  1435.  He  was  rector  of  the 
University  of  Paris,  and  director  of  the  College  of  Navarre. 

»  O.  d'AssaiUy,  Albert  le  Grand,  Paris,  1870,  p.  175. 


212  ABELARD 

suffering,  with  the  wine,  the  eucharistic  transforma- 
tion?"—  "Is  it  of  the  divine  essence  to  engender  or 
to  be  engendered?"  —  "What  do  the  angels  do  with 
the  bodies  of  which  tliey  have  made  use  to  fulfil  a 
mission  upon  earth?"  —  "What  was  the  color  of  the 
Virgin's  skin?  "  —  "  Utrum  beatissima  Virgo  in  concep- 
tione  hahuerit  dolorem  vel  aliquam  delectationem  ?  .  .  .  " 
Observe  that  these  follies  are  quoted,  not  from  some 
obscure  theologian,  but  from  the  Summa  of  Albertus 
Magnus. 

The  theology  of  the  Middle  Ages  had,  nevertheless, 
one  merit;  namely,  that  it  was  always  associated,  at 
Aeast  by  its  most  famous  representatives,  with  philo- 
/  sophic  studies.^  Was  not  Albertus  Magnus  nicknamed 
"~Ehe  ape  of  Aristotle "  because,  like  his  disciple, 
Thomas  Aquinas,  he  had  ardently  studied  and  para- 
phrased the  Greek  philosopher?''  If  the  philosophy 
of  that  age  was  generally  religious,  and  could  be  de- 
fined as  intellectus  qucp.rens  Jjdem,  theology,  on  the 
other  hand,  was  thoroughly  impregnated  with  philos- 
ophy and  found  its  motto  in  the  inverse  formula,  ^des 
qucerens  intellectum.  In  the  book  of  the  Sentences 
the  portion  commented  on  with  the  greatest  care  and 
insistence  was  the  first  part,  the  most  metaphysical, 
the  most  philosophical  division  of  the  whole,  since  it 
treated  of  God,  the  princijjle  of  all  things. 

But  from  this  very  tendency  to  philosophize,  or,  at 

1  "  It  was  at  that  time  impossible  to  study  theology  without 
knowing  logic  thoroughly,"  says  Thurot.  "It  ensued  that  the 
students  were  prepared  for  theology  by  instruction  in  logic  and 
philosophy." 

2  "  Albertus  Magnus,"  Renan  has  said,  "was  a  paraphrasist, 
Thomas  Aquinas,  a  commentator  of  Aristotle  "  (Averroes,  p.  188). 


THE  FACULTIES   OF  THEOLOGY  213 

any  rate  to  reason,  proceeded  the  incurable  evil  of  this 
prolix  and  babbling  theology  whose  travail  brought 
forth  all  that  litter  of  dissertations,  that  mass  of 
huge  volumes  now  forgotten  and  hidden  in  the  dust 
of  libraries.  Commentaries  were  piled  on  commen- 
taries until  in  the  end  the  sacred  texts  were  lost  sight 
of;  no  one  went  back  any  longer  to  the  source,  and 
when  the  sixteenth  century  arrived,  the  theologians  of 
the  Keformation  found  the  Bible  again  with  the  same 
astonishment,  the  same  enthusiasm,  as  the  humanists 
of  the  Renaissance  rediscovered  Homer  and  Vergil. 
And  it  is  permissible  to  agree  with  the  judgment 
passed  on  scholastic  theology  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury by  the  very  irreverent  Petrarch, —  Petrarch,  the 
first  of  modern  men,  — when  he  wrote  to  a  friend  in 
one  of  his  familiar  letters :  "  Look  at  these  men  who 
spend  their  whole  life  in  altercations,  soi)liistical 
subtleties,  in  incessantly  turning  their  brains  upside 
down  in  order  to  solve  empty  little  questions;  and 
accept  as  true  my  prophecy  concerning  tlieir  future: 
their  reputation  will  pass  away  with  their  existence, 
and  the  same  sepulchre  will  suffice  to  enshroud  their 
names  and  their  bones  "  {unum  sepidchrum  nominibns 
ossibusque  eorum  sufficiet). 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  FACULTIES  OF  CIVIL  AND  CANON  LAW 

I.  The  University  of  Bologna,  the  first  centre  of  legal   studies 

—  The  civil  and  canon  law —  Success  of  these  studies  in  spite  of 
ecclesiastical  opposition  —  Reason  and  consequence  of  this  suc- 
cess—  The  Popes  themselves  patronize  the  universities  of  law 

—  II.  Irnerius  and  Abelard  —  The  Pandects  of  Justinian  — 
Knowledge  of  the  Roman  law  conserved  by  the  clergy  —  The 
disciples  of  Irnerius — Vacarius  and  Placentinus  —  Accursius 
and  Bartola  —  The  method  of  Irnerius  —  The  glossse  and  th^ 
summm  —  III.  Order  of  the  lessons  —  Rules  followed  in  Mont- 
pellier,  in  Toulouse — Enumeration  of  the  books  interpreted  — 
The  corpus  juris  of  Justinian  —  The  common  law  —  Minute 
enumeration  of  obligatory  tasks  imposed — Ordinary  and  ex- 
traordinary books  —  Oral  teaching  —  The  repetitions  —  The  dis- 
putations—  Duration  of  the  studies  —  IV.  The  canon  law  — 
Faculties  of  decretal  —  The  Decretum  of  Gratiau — Other  books 

—  CoQclusion. 


If  it  is  in  the  University  of  Paris  that  one  should 
study  the  teaching  of  arts  and  theology,  because  it 
was  especially  in  Paris  that  these  branches  were  held 
in  honor,  it  is  to  the  University  of  Bologna,  and  also 
to  the  provincial  universities  of  France,  Orleans,  Tou- 
louse, and  notably  Montpellier,  that  one  must  go  to 
seek,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  teaching  of  law  that  is 
really  important  and  flourishing, 
r  Law,  in  those  times,  signified,  on  the  one  hand,  civil 
or  secular  law,  inherited  from  the  Komans,  and  chiefly 
214 


FACULTIES  OF  CIVIL  AND  CANON  LAW       215 

determined  by  the  Justinian  Code ;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  canon  or  ecclesiastical  law,  as  established  by 
the  decisions  of  councils  and  the  decrees  of  Popes^ 
Thence  ensued  two  orders  of  instruction,  two  Facul- 
ties, often  blended  into  one :  the  majority  of  the  uni- 
versities teaching  canon  law  and  civil  law  at  the  same 
time  and  constituting  what  miglit  be  called  mixed 
Faculties,  where  one  became,  according  to  the  expres- 
sion then  in  use,  doctor  in  utroque  jure.  We  hardly 
find  anywhere  except  at  Paris,  —  where  it  had  been 
established  in  consequence  of  the  provision  forbidding 
the  teaching  of  civil  law,  pronounced  by  the  Popes  in 
the  first  years  of  the  thirteenth  century,  —  a  special 
Faculty  of  Canon  Law,  or  Faculty  of  Decretal.  But 
everywhere  else  legal  instruction  was  twofold  in  char- 
acter, and  in  certain  centres  of  study,  Orleans  for 
example,  the  university  was  nothing  but  a  university 
of  law:  it  had  no  other  chairs. 

There  is  nothing  to  surprise  us  in  the  fact  that  the 
studies  which  formed  men  of  business,  and  prepared 
wise  counsellors  and  skilful  jurists  for  the  service 
of  kings  and  popes,  were  held  in  high  regard  thus 
early.  Even  then  these  were  studies  which,  in  a 
word,  already  seemed  the  most  necessary  from  the 
utilitarian  and  practical  point  of  view,  since  they 
afforded  the  means  of  regulating  those  material  inter- 
ests which  the  Middle  Ages,  in  spite  of  the  reputation 
they  have  gained  for  idealism,  neither  disdained  nor 
neglected.^    Thus  M.  Fournier  is  able  to  say,  doubt- 

1  The  members  of  the  Faculties  of  Arts,  however,  did  not  at  first 
evince  much  sympathy  for  the  science  of  law,  which  they  regarded 
as  a  trade  rather  than  an  art. 


216  ABELARD 

less  with  some  exaggeration,  that  "all  the  vitality 
of  the  ancient  provincial  universities  depended  on  the 
teaching  of  law  and  the  Faculty  of  Law."  *  Although 
this  statement  is  not  absolutely  exact,  since,  to  cite 
no  other  instance,  the  considerable  development  of 
medical  studies  at  Montpellier  gives  it  a  formal  con- 
traction, it  is  certain  that  the  study  of  law  did  not 
merely  flourish  in  the  Middle  Ages  with  a  special 
brilliancy,  testified  to  by  the  celebrated  names  of 
Irnerius,  Accursius,  and  Bartola,  but  that,  concur- 
rently with  theology,  it  was  sometimes  prejudicial  to 
other  studies,  and  especially  so  to  pure  science  and 
letters.  This  is  what  Crevier  affirms,  when,  in  defin- 
ing the  condition  of  studies  at  the  close  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  he  says:  "Theology  and  canon  law 
afforded  a  short  and  secure  way  of  arriving  at  eccle- 
siastical dignities.  Hence  students,  as  soon  as  they 
had  acquired  a  moderate  provision  of  grammar  and 
logic,  devoted  themselves  to  these  sciences,  so  useful 
to  success;  while  the  arts,  which  could  merely  adorn 
_tlie  mind,  were  abandoned.'"^ 

Instruction  in  Roman  law,  however,  did  not  succeed 
in  gaining  and  keeping  a  foothold  in  the  schools  and 
universities  of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries 
without  a  struggle.  It  is  indubitable  that  the  Church 
at  first  beheld  with  anxiety  and  suspicion  the  develop- 
ment of  those  studies  in  civil  law  whicli  she  was  later 
on  to  patronize  and  protect.  There  was  a  moment 
when  the  civil  lawyer  was  considered  the  enemy  of 
God;  and  John  of  Salisbury  relates  that  several  of 
his  contemporaries  burned  and  destroyed  such  manu- 

1  Fournier,  op.  cit.,  t.  i,  Preface,  p.  viii.      ^  Crevier,  t.  iii,  p.  190. 


FACULTIES  OF  CIVIL  AND   CANON  LAW      217 


scripts  of  civil  law  as  fell  into  their  hands.    The  same  ^i 
conservative  and  traditional  spirit  which  opposed  the  j 
introduction  of  Aristotle's  works  on  physics  in  the  j 
Faculty    of   Arts,    was    still    more    bound   to    resist  i 
the  progress  of  civil  law,  considered  as  the  rival  of ! 
ecclesiastical  law.     In  the  twelfth  century  the  coun- 1 
cils  of  Lateran  (1139)  and  of  Tours  (1163)  forbade 
members  of  religious  orders  to  study  civil  law.     St. 
Bernard  complained  bitterly  of  the  ardor  with  which 
the  clergy  threw  themselves  into  legal  studies.     In 
1220,  a  Bull  of  Pope  Honorius  III  prohibited  the 
teaching  of  civil  law  at  Paris  and  the  neighboring 
cities.^     In  1254,  Innocent   IV  extended  the  same 
prohibition  against  Eoman  law  for  all  France." 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  reasons  urged  by  the 
popes  in  justification  of  this  prohibition.  That  to 
which  they  chiefly  appealed  was  the  fact  that  the 
study  of  civil  law  was  prejudicial  to  the  science  which 
they  naturally  ranked  above  all  others,  namely,  the- 
ology.^ But  they  advanced  other  considerations:  in 
the  first  place,  the  pretended  inutility  of  this  study. 
"Although  Holy  Church,"  said  Honorius  III,  "does 
not  reject  the  docile  co-operation  (famulatum)  of  the 
secular  laws,  yet,  as  in  France  and  other  provinces, 
the  laity  do  not  use  the  laws  of  the  Roman  Emperors ;  * 
and  as,  moreover,  ecclesiastical  suits  are  seldom  met 
with  which  may  not  be  settled  by  the  rules  of  canon 
law  alone,  we  forbid,  under  pain  of  excommunication, 
both  at  Paris  and  the  neigliboring  towns  and  cities, 

1  Chartularium  Univ.  Paris.,  t.  i,  p.  92.  '^  Ibid.,  p.  261. 

3  "We  desire,"  said  the  Pope,  "  tU  picnius  et  per/ectius  studio 
theolof/isB  inscctatur  vel  saltern  philo soph ix  discipline." 
*  Allusion  to  couutries  governed  by  common  law. 


218  ABELARD 

any  person  to  employ  himself  in  teaching  or  learning 
civil  law." 

It  appears,  moreover,  that  the  Sovereign  Pontiffs 
had  been  shocked  by  the  luxurious  habits  and  osten- 
tation of  the  professors  of  law,  who  were  richer  than 
their  colleagues  of  the  other  Faculties,  in  consequence 
of  the  proiits  derived  from  their  pleadings  and  con- 
sultations. Nothing  can  be  more  significant  on  this 
head  than  the  following  passage  from  the  bull  of 
Honorius  III :  "  We  have  learned  with  sorrow  that, 
abandoning  the  study  of  philosophy,  to  say  nothing 
of  that  of  theology,  the  majority  of  the  clergy  hasten 
to  the  lectures  on  secular  law ;  and  that,  in  the  major- 
ity of  states,  no  one  is  chosen  by  the  bishops  to  occupy 
positions  of  dignity  and  honor,  or  ecclesiastical  pre- 
bends, unless  he  is  either  a  professor  of  civil  law  or 
an  advocate.  ..."  Then  follows  a  delineation  of 
the  privations  imposed  on  themselves,  per  contra,  in 
their  modest  way  of  life,  by  the  nurslings  of  philoso- 
phy (alumni  philosophic) ;  "  while  our  advocates,  or 
say  rather  our  devils  (advocati  nostri,  ivimo  diaboli), 
covered  with  purple,  mounted  on  richly  caparisoned 
horses,  in  the  glitter  of  gold,  the  whiteness  of  silver, 
the  splendor  of  precious  stones,  their  royal  vestments 
reflecting  the  splendors  of  the  astonished  sun  (stu- 
pentem  reverberantes  solem),  make  ostentatious  display 
'arid  give  rise  to  scandal  everywhere."  And  the  Pope 
concludes  by  forbidding  the  bishops  to  consider  the 
title  of  professor  of  laws  a  sufficient  recommendation 
for  ecclesiastical  preferment,  and  by  formally  prohib- 
iting **  in  France,  England,  Scotland,  Flanders,  Spain, 
and  Hungary "  all  teaching  of  civil  law.     It  is  true 


FACULTIES  OF  CIVIL    AND   CANON  LAW       219 

that,  himself  mistrusting  the  results  of  this  prohibi- 
tion, the  Pope  added,  "  If,  however,  the  heads  of  the 
State  permit "   (si  tamen  hoc  de  regum  et  principum .. 
processerit  voluntate). 

Is  it  by  reason  of  this  restriction,  which  reserved  the^, 
rights  of  emperors  and  kings,  that  civil  law,  in  spite  j 
of  the  threats  of  excommunication,  became  common  in 
all  the  universities?  It  is  permissible  to  think  so,  \ 
since  the  study  of  law  could  alone  guarantee  to  the 
temporal  sovereigns  capable  ministers,  such  as  that 
William  of  Nogaret,  professor  of  law  at  Montpellier, 
who  was  of  such  great  assistance  to  Philip  the  Fair  in 
his  quarrels  with  Boniface  VIII.  In  any  case,  the 
organization  in  the  vicinity  of  Paris  of  the  University 
of  Orleans  is  proof  enough  that  the  Popes  were  not 
obeyed.^  It  is  manifest  that  the  bishops  themselves 
were  not  rigorous  toward  the  jurists  very  long.  In 
the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  Roger  Bacon 
points  out  the  progress  of  civil  law,  and  what  he  calls 
"the  abuse  of  it  that  has  been  made  in  Italy." ^  And 
he  adds:  "The  jurists  have  acquired  such  influence 
over  the  minds  of  prelates  and  princes  that  they  mo- 
nopolize all  places  and  favors  at  their  disposal,  so  mucli 
so  that  students  of  philosopliy  and  theology  remain 
empty  handed,  no  longer  having  tlie  wherewithal  to 
live,  to  buy  books,  devote  themselves  to  research, 
or  experiment  on  the  secrets  of  science.  Even  the 
jurists  who  study  canon  law  only  have  not  the  nec- 
essary resources  for  life  and  study  unless  they  have  at 

1  "The  Popes  were  greatly  respected  in  the  Middle  Ages,"  says 
Thiirot,  "  but  their  decisions  were  executed  only  in  so  far  as  people 
chose." 

2  Roger  Bacon,  Compendium  Philosophise,  ch.  iv. 


220  ABELARD 

the  same  time  acquired  a  knowledge  of  civil  law.  .   .  . 
The  civil  lawyers  alone  are  honored  and  enriched."^ 
\    Even  the  favor  of  Popes  was  not  always  refused  to 
icivil  law.     Thus,  Clement  V,  who  had  himself  studied 
I  law  in  the  schools  of  Orleans,  formally  consecrated, 
(by  his  Bull  of  1306,  the  legal  instruction  of  that 
1  university.'^     It  is  true  that  Clement  V  was  no  other 
J  than   that   famous   Bertrand   de    Goth   who,   having 
l^be„Qome   pope   through  the  protection  of  Philip  the 
Fair,  seems  to  have  ascended  the  pontifical  throne 
only  to  make  himself  the  tool  of  the  King  of  France. 
"Let  none  wonder,"  said  he  concerning  the  jurists  of 
Orleans,  "  that  the  sun  glistens  on  their  golden  buck- 
lers, for  they  are  the  defenders  of  the  country;  they 
disentangle  rights  from  the  midst  of  the  most  hidden 
facts;  they  re-establish  the  rights  of  every  man  and 
come  to  the  aid  of  the  human  race;   thus  meriting 
by  the  results  of  their  science  as  much  as  if  they  had 
saved  the  country  by  wounds  received  in  combat." 
What  a  contrast  with  the  language  employed  a  hun- 
dred years  earlier  by  the  predecessors  of  Clement  V! 
f  All  the  Avignon  Popes,  moreover,  followed  the  exam- 
;    pie  of  Clement  V  and  sliowed  themselves  so  favorable 
to  civil  law  that  no  further  opposition  was  made  to 
the  progress  of  legal  study. 

1  Another  writer  of  that  age  (cited  by  MuUinger,  op.  cit.,  p.  211) 
claims,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  study  of  canon  law  also  led  to  riches 
and  preferment.  But  ho  agrees  with  Roger  Bacon  in  affirming  that 
theology  was  abandoned  and  that  the  mass  of  students  adhered  to 
the  study  of  law. 

2  Fournier,  t.  i,  p.  11.  "The  studies  of  canon  and  of  civil  law," 
said  the  Pope,  "  have  always  been  held  in  lionor  at  Orleans:  they 
shall  flourish  there  anew  by  the  help  of  God." 


FACULTIES   OF  CIVIL  AND   CANON  LAW       221 

It  will  have  been  observed  that,  in  the  passage 
already  cited  from  the  Bull  of  Honorius  III,  the  Pope 
alluded  to  the  common  law  countries  where  Roman  law 
was  not  in  use ;  for  instance,  the  northern  and  central 
provinces  of  France.  There,  assuredly,  was  a  diffi- 
culty, a  local  obstacle  to  the  development  of  the  study 
of  Eoman  law.  But  attention  has  been  drawn  by 
others  to  the  fact  that  "  in  France  had  been  carried  on 
a  preservation  of  old  customs  which,  though  not  less 
varied  than  the  feudal  divisions,  preserved  the  method 
and  frequently  even  the  stipulations  of  the  Eoman 
law.  If  the  Popes,  who  protected  their  canons,  made 
opposition  to  Roman  law,  the  kings  of  France  were 
favorable  to  the  study  of  it.  St.  Louis  caused  the 
works  of  Justinian  to  be  translated."^  The  Roman 
laws,  then,  were  interesting  things  to  know,  even  in 
the  common  law  regions ;  and  elsewhere  —  for  exam- 
ple, in  the  south  of  France  —  they  were  the  common 
law  of  the  land.  __ 

I  shall  end  these  general  considerations  by  pointing 
out  that  the  study  of  civil  law  was  one  of  the  forces 
Avhich  contributed  most  toward  the  emancipation  of 
the  universities,  toward  freeing  them  from  ecclesiasti- 
cal dependence,  and  preparing  for  and  introducing 
therein  the  lay  spirit.  This  progress  was  cliiefly  due 
to  the  very  character  of  that  instruction  which,  treat- 
ing exclusively  of  human  affairs  and  temporal  inter- 
ests, directed  the  tlioughts  of  those  who  pursued  it, 

1  V.  Leclerc,  £tat  des  Lcttrcs  au  XII'  Siede,  p.  510.  Compare 
Montesquieu,  Esprit  des  Lois,  vol.  xxviii,  ch.  xlii ;  "Philip  the 
Fair  caused  the  laws  of  Justinian  to  be  taught  simply  as  written 
reason  in  those  regions  ol  France  which  were  governed  by  custom." 


222  ABELAED 

either  as  students  or  masters,  toward  the  things  of  this 
world.  But  account  must  also  be  made  of  the  special 
fact  that  the  study  of  law  made  its  adepts  wealthy ;  so 
that  the  jurists  gradually  renounced  the  austere  life 
imposed  by  their  poverty  on  other  members  of  the  uni- 
versity. From  the  thirteenth  century,  according  to 
the  testimony  of  Roger  Bacon,  the  professors  of  law  at 
Bologna  married,  organized  their  households  according 
to  the  fashions  of  the  period,  and  adopted  the  same 
mode  of  life  as  the  laity. 

II 

it  was  from  Italy,  and  above  all  from  Bologna,  that 
great  intellectual  centre  both  of  canon  and  of  Roman 
law,  that  the  first  impulse  to  legal  study  came. 
Irnerius,  who  taught  at  Bologna  in  the  first  half 
of  the  twelfth  century,  was  the  renovator  of  legal 
study,  and  he  is  entitled  by  that  fact  to  a  place 
analogous  to  that  we  have  assigned  to  Abelard  among 
the  founders  of  universities.^ 

He  had  himself  studied  in  the  schools  of  Constanti- 
nople, and  this  earliest  Renaissance,  like  the  Renais- 
sance of  the  sixteenth  century,  seems  to  have  been  in 
part,  at  least,  a  ray  from  the  science  of  the  Orient, 
illumining  Italy  in  the  first  place,  and  then  stealing 
gradually  over  the  other  countries  of  Western  Europe. 
An  accident,  a  fortunate  find,  contributed  to  the  resto- 
ration of  Roman  law.  In  1135  or  1137,  at  tlie  sacking 
of  the  little  town  of  Amalti,  some  one  laid  hands  on 

1  Irnerius,  whom  Crevier  styles  "  the  German  Irnerius,"  seems, 
nevertheless,  to  have  been  born  in  Italy,  at  Milan  or  Bologna. 


FACULTIES  OF  CIVIL  AND  CANON  LAW       223 

a  copy  of  the  Pandects  of  Justinian.  Irnerius  was 
charged  with  the  revision  of  the  text,  and  it  was  prob- 
ably at  this  period  that  he  was  commissioned  by  tlie 
Emperor  Lothair  II  to  teach  law  in  the  University 
of  Bologna. 

It  must  not  be  imagined,  however,  as  has  been  mis- 
takenly done  by  Montesquieu,^  that  the  petty  fact  of 
discovering  the  lost  text  of  the  Pandects  was  like  a 
resurrection,  "a  second  birth,"  for  Roman  law,  and 
tliat,  swept  away  by  the  fall  of  the  Western  Empire, 
hidden  for  six  hundred  years,  the  Justinian  law  was 
picked  up  by  chance  in  the  twelftli  century.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  study  of  Roman  law  had  never 
been  completely  abandoned,  even  during  the  darkest 
period  of  the  ignorance  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The 
learned  had  always  known  of  the  Theodosian  Code. 
The  Code  and  the  Constitutions  of  Justinian  were 
studied  before  the  finding  of  the  Pandects.  And 
Savigny  has  forcibly  demonstrated,  in  a  chapter  en- 
titled "The  Roman  law  preserved  by  the  clergy," 
that  there  had  never  been  a  complete  interruption  in 
the  study  of  it.  Irnerius  merely  resumed  the  study 
of  civil  law,  and  gave  it  prominence  by  the  public 
character  of  his  lectures  and  the  novelty  of  his 
method. 

It  was  the  pupils  of  Irnerius  who  spread  a  taste  for" 
the  same   studies   throughout   the   other   scliools   of  \ 
Europe.      As   early   as   1149,   one   of  his  disciples,  j 
Vacarius,  carried  the  laws  of  Justinian  to  England 
and  taught  in  the  Oxford  schools.*     So,  too,  the  law 

1  Montesquieu,  Esprit  des  Lois,  vol.  xxviii,  ch.  xlii. 

^It  u  iaterestiog  to  note  that  in  England,  contrary  to  what 


224  ABELARD 

university  of  Montpellier  sprang  directly  from  the 
University  of  Bologna.  The  Italian  Placentin,  born 
at  Plaisance,  after  having  taught  at  Bologna  and 
Mantua,  established  himself  at  Montpellier  about 
1160  or  1180.^  He  was,  say  the  chronicles  of  the 
time,  the  first  who  read  at  Montpellier.^  Another 
Bolognese  professor,  Azo,  likewise  emigrated  to 
Montpellier,  and  it  is  related  that  many  Italian 
students  followed  him  thither. 

Montpellier  was  not  the  only  place  in  France  to 
profit  by  the  intellectual  movement  which  had  its 
starting-point  at  Bologna.  "Our  Frenchmen,"  says 
Crevier,  "went  to  Bologna  to  gain  a  knowledge  of 
Justinian  law,  and  brought  it  back  from  there  to 
Angers,  Orleans,  and  Paris."  ^  The  statutes  drawn 
up  in  1306,  by  Pope  Clement  V,  to  regulate  the  order 
of  the  lectures  of  the  professors  of  law  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Orleans,  indorse  the  divisions,  the  puncta 
taxata,  followed  in  their  instructions  by  the  doctors 
of  Bologna.* 

Bolognese  jurists  went  all  over  Europe.  In  1348, 
a  professor  from  Bologna  was  summoned  by  Charles 
IV  to  the  University  of  Prague.  Others  went  to 
1  Spain.  But  it  was  in  Italy  especially  that  the  dis- 
ciples of  Irnerius  propagated  the  science  and  methods 
lof  their  master,  and  contributed  to  the  formation  of  a 

occurred  elsewhere,  the  clergy  favored  the  study  of  Roman  law, 
while  the  civil  power  rejected  it.  It  was  King  Stephen  who  for- 
bade the  lectures  of  Vacarius. 

1  Placentin,  after  a  first  journey  to  France,  returned  to  Italy; 
but  he  went  back  again  to  Montpellier,  where  he  died,  February  12, 
1192.  2  A.  Germain,  op.  cit.,  p.  6. 

«  Crevier,  1. 1,  p.  246.  *  M.  Fournier,  1. 1,  p.  28. 


FACULTIES  OP  CIVIL  AND  CANON  LAW      225 

great  number   of  universities,  nearly  all    of  them   \ 
organized  on  the  pattern  of  the  University  of  Bologna^_J 

Bologna  maintained  its  precedence,  none  the  less, 
under  the  successors  of  Irnerius.  It  was  at  Bologna 
that  Accursius  taught  (1182-1260),  who  became  in 
his  turn  the  chief  of  a  school,  and  was  surnamed  "  the 
idol  of  jurisconsults."  Irnerius  had  been  called  "the 
light  of  the  law."  At  Bologna,  likewise,  the  famous 
Bartola  studied  and  received  his  doctorate  (1313- 
1356);  he  was,  after  Accursius,  the  guide  of  the 
Roman  lawyers  of  that  time,  and  taught  at  Pisa  and 
Perugia.  Bartola  instituted  a  new  method,  "niore  1 
general  than  that  of  his  predecessors :  instead  of  con- 
fining himself  to  comments  on  matters  of  detail,  he  ' 
constructed  theories.  His  authority  lasted  until  the 
sixteenth  century,  when  Alciat  in  Italy  and  Cujas  in 
France  replaced  him  in  the  direction  and  general 
inspiration  of  legal  studies. 

What  was  the  method  of  Irnerius,  the  dominating 
method  of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries?  It 
consisted,  essentially,  in  submitting  the  legal  texts  to 
very  nearly  the  same  laborious  explanation  and  per- 
petual commentary  to  which  the  contemporary  profes- 
sors of  logic  and  philosophy  subjected  the  texts  of 
Aristotle.  All  obscure  terms  and  vague  plirases  were 
interpreted.  Marginal  notes  and  interlineations  were 
added  to  the  text.  Thence  came  the  name  of  glossar- 
ists,  makers  of  glosse  es  (glossce,  obscure  words),  applied 
to  Irnerius.^     Another  process,  dear  to  Irnerius,  was 

1  See  Savigny,  op.  cit.,  ch.  xxiii,  Les  ylossateurs  consid^r^s  comme 
pro/esseurs. 


226  ABELARD 

that  of  summaries,  of  rhumis.'^    His  pupil,  Placentin, 

wrote  tlie  Sum  of  the  Code,  the  Sum  of  the  Institutes, 

etc.     Doubtless  in  these  earliest  studies  of  civil  law 

in  the  Middle  Ages  one  discerns  no  original  effort  to 

return  to  the  philosophic  sources  of  laAvs,  or  to  rise, 

through  comparison  of  civil  and  natural  law,  to  new 

conceptions ;  but  there  is,  at  all  events,  an  interesting 

and  exhaustive  work  of  patient  and  minute  interpreta- 

!  tToii.     The  sometimes  grotesque,  but  sometimes  pene- 

!  trating  explanations  of  Irnerius  prepared  the  way  for 

i  the  more  certain  and  complete  interpretations  given 

I  afterwards  by  Alciat  and  Cujas,  whose  originality  con- 

I  sisted  chiefly  in  making  an  appeal  to  ancient  history 

/  and  literature,  and  all  other  aids  to  interpretation  in 

(^  making  their  explanations  of  legal  texts.    The  gravest 

reproach  which  can  be  brought  against  the  school  of 

Irnerius  is  that,  by  a  phenomenon  analogoiis  to  that 

which  occurred  in  the  scholastic  study  of  philosophy, 

where   the   commentators   gradually  superseded  the 

author  and  the  text  of  Aristotle  disappeared  under  the 

paraphrases  of  his  interpreters,  so  in  the  study  of  law 

men  attached  themselves  with  servility  to  the  gloss 

which  came  to  have  greater  authority  than  the  text 

itself.'^ 

1  "  The  professor  began  his  course  by  giving  the  r^sumd  or 
entire  title  (swrnma)." 

2  E.  Petit,  professor  of  the  Faculty  of  Law  of  Poitiers,  TraiU 
elementaire  du  droit  romain.    Paris,  1892. 


FACULTIES  OF  CIVIL  AND  CANON  LAW      227 

III 

Kestricting  ourselves  in  the  first  place  to  civil  law, 
let  us  try  to  form  an  idea  of  the  order  of  lectures  and 
exercises  in  the  Faculties  of  Law  during  the  Middle 
Ages.  For  the  details  I  shall  go  back  to  the  very- 
text  of  the  various  regulations  published,  notably  to 
the  statutes  established  1339  for  the  University  of 
Montpellier,  and,  shortly  before  that,  in  the  first 
years  of  the  fourteenth  century,  for  that  of  Toulouse.* 

The  Faculty  of  Civil  Law,  like  the  Faculty  of  Arts, 
had  its  "  ordinary  "  and  its  "  extraordinary  "  lessons : 
the  latter  appear  to  have  been  intended  to  complete 
the  regular  instruction,  which  was  devoted  to  funda- 
mental questions.  The  ordinary  lectures  were  abso- 
lutely obligatory;  it  seems  that  the  extraordinary 
courses  were  optional  up  to  a  certain  point.  Only 
the  ordinary  lectures,  says  Savigny,  were  attended 
by  all  the  students.  A  simple  bachelor  might  give 
extraordinary  lectures,  while  the  other  courses  were 
reserved  to  licentiates  or  doctors.  At  Montpellier, 
each  lecture  occupied  an  hour,  and  there  were  four 
every  day;  at  Bologna,  an  hour  and  a  half  or  two 
hours.     The  first  began  at  six  in  the  morning^  (hord 

1  M.  Fournier,  op.  cit.,  t.  ii,  p.  44,  and  t.  i,  p.  452.  The  statutes 
of  1339  were  drawn  up  by  Cardinal  Bertrand,  in  the  name  of  Pope 
Benedict  XII.  The  statutes  of  Toulouse  had  been  drawn  up,  accord- 
ing to  M.  Fournier,  between  1280  and  1320.  Pere  Denifle  thinks 
they  date  from  the  second  half  of  the  fourteenth  century.  See  on 
this  subject  the  articles  M.  Fournier  has  just  published  in  the 
Revue  Internationale  de  I'enseiyiiemcnt  superieur  (February  15, 
March  1,  March  15,  1892):  L' organisation  de  I'enseignement  du 
droit  dans  I'Universite  de  Montpellier. 

*  At  Bologna  this  course  was  to  begin,  at  latest,  when  the  Angelus 


228  ABELARD 

primd  matutind) ;  the  second  at  nine  (hord  tertid) ;  the 
tliird  at  three  {liord  nond) ;  and  the  last  at  five  (hord 
vesperarum) .  The  morning  lecture  was  the  essential 
one,  the  one  called  ordinary.  At  Montpellier  and 
Bologna,  these  lectures  began  on  October  19,  and 
ended  on  September  29.  The  other  courses  were 
called  extraordinary.  At  Montpellier,  the  evening 
courses  were  given  by  doctors  or  licentiates;  those 
at  nine  in  the  morning  and  three  in  the  afternoon 
by  bachelors.  Punctuality  was  rigidly  demanded,  at 
least  by  the  regulations.  At  Bologna,  a  professor 
who  was  tardy  in  beginning  his  lesson  had  to  pay  a 
fine  of  twenty  sous.  The  number  of  masters  varied 
greatly.  We  find  only  two  in  the  University  of 
Poitiers  (where  there  were  also  two  professors  of 
canon  law) ;  a  third  professor  of  civil  law  was  insti- 
tuted in  the  seventeenth  century,  at  the  time  of  the 
reform  of  1679.  At  Orleans,  Bimbenet  speaks  of  ten 
professors.  At  Bologna,  according  to  the  statutes  of 
1397,  the  college  of  civil  lawyers  numbered  sixteen 
ordinary  members;  and  that  of  the  canonists  twelve, 
plus  a  certain  number  of  professors  supranumerarii  et 
extraordinarii.  This  number  appears  considerable, 
especially  when  one  recalls  that  at  Bologna,  as  else- 
where, students  and  bachelors  also  took  part  in  the 
instruction  and  had  the  right  to  lecture. 

The  books  explained  in  the  ordinary  and  extraor- 
dinary courses  were  the  different  works  of  the  corpus 
juris  of  Justinian :  the  Codex  *  in  the  first  place ;  then 

was  rung  at  the  Cathedral.    At  Poitiers,  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
there  was  a  course  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
*  The  Codex  of  Justinian  dates  from  529. 


FACULTIES  OF  CIVIL  AND  CANON  LAW      229 

the  Digestum  Vetus,  the  Infortiatum,  the  Digestum 
Novum,  in  other  words,  the  three  parts  which  the 
glossarists,  the  Irnerians,  had  distinguished  as  the 
Pandects  or  the  Digest,  the  Institutes,^  the  Authenticum 
or  the  Authentica;  that  is  to  say,  extracts  from  the 
NoveJlm  Constitutinas ;  ^  and,  finally,  what  were  called 
the  Tres  lihri,  a  collection  composed  of  books  10,  11, 
and  12  of  the  Codex. 

Nearly  all  the  sources  of  Koman  law,  then,  were 
within  the  reach  of  the  students.  But  was  the  study 
of  common  law,  of  modern  law,  completely  forgotten 
by  these  Faculties  which  seem  to  have  been  chiefly 
a  revival  of  the  law  schools  of  the  Western  Empire? 
No;  since  we  find  in  the  list  of  classic  authors  of 
the  school  of  Montpellier,  a  book  wholly  unknoAv^n  to 
Koman  law,  the  Usus  feudorum,  that  is,  a  collection 
of  feudal  laws.  So  too,  at  Bologna,  the  study  of  the 
Constitutiones  of  Frederick  I,  of  Frederick  II,  and  of 
Conrad,  were  gradually  introduced.* 

I  shall  not  reproduce  in  all  their  details  the  very 
precise  indications  afforded  by  contemporary  docu- 
ments concerning  the  distribution  of  matters  taught 
in  the  different  courses.  The  statutes  of  Montpellier, 
like  those  of  Bologna  and  Toulouse,  determine  with 
minute  precision  and  tyrannous  severity  what  works 
and  wliat  divisions  of  works  shall  be  studied  in  botli 
the  ordinary  and  the  extraordinary  courses.    They  fix 

1  The  Institutes  {institutiones)  date  from  533,  the  same  year  as 
the  Digest. 

2  Novellas  constitutiones,  collection  of  the  last  constitutions  l)y 
which  Justinian  had  modified  certain  dispositions  of  his  Code  of 
529,  and  which  were  not  publislied  until  after  his  death.  Each 
Noi^elle  belonging  to  the  Authenticum  was  called  Authentica. 

8  Savigny,  ch.  xxi,  IJM. 


230  ABELARD 

the  number  of  lectures  to  be  devoted  to  each  subject 
of  instruction.  Thus,  at  Toulouse,  the  first  book  of 
the  Digestum  Vetus  was  to  be  read  in  thirteen  days ; 
the  second,  in  twenty  days;  the  third,  in  eighteen 
days,  etc.  The  classic  works  were  distinguished  into 
ordinary  and  extraordinary  books;  the  first  were  the 
Digestum  Vetus  and  the  Codex,  reserved  for  the  ordi- 
nary courses;  but  extraordinary  courses  might  be 
given  even  on  the  ordinary  books.  Another  distinc- 
tion, which  we  find  at  Montpellier,  if  not  at  Bologna, 
consisted  in  dividing  the  books  into  two  parts;  the 
extraordinary  books  themselves  comprised  a  pars  ordi- 
naria  and  a  pars  extraordinaria,  confided  to  different 
professors.^  At  Toulouse  and  at  Orleans  it  was  only 
the  ordinary  books  which  were  divided  into  two  parts, 
each  pars  having  the  same  importance.  The  regula- 
tions went  still  farther  and  put  the  professors  under 
very  close  restrictions ;  the  points  (puncta  taxata)  at 
which  they  were  to  stop  their  explanations  were  de- 
termined for  them  in  advance.  "  The  taxatio  puncto- 
rxim,"  says  M.  Fournier,  "introduced  into  each  part 
a  new  division,  the  object  of  which  was  to  oblige  the 
professors  to  teach  a  certain  quantity  of  matters  in  a 
given  time."  This  taxatio  varied  in  each  university. 
In  general,  the  pundum  comprised  what  the  professor 
could  read  in  the  space  of  fourteen  days  of  lectures 
(dies  legibiles).  It  is  easy  to  see  that  this  taxatio 
punctorum  had  been  devised  in  order  to  obviate  the 

1  M.  Fournier  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  at  Montpellier  the 
tendency  was  to  abandon  tlie  traditional  distinction  of  ordinary 
and  extraordinary  books,  and  to  adopt  another  which,  in  all  books, 
distinguished  an  ordinary  part  and  an  extraordinary  part. 


FACULTIES  OF   CIVIL   AND  CANON  LAW      231 

caprices  or  the  negligence  of  masters.*  By  thus 
binding  them  down  to  a  far  too  rigid  programme, 
assurance  was  at  least  gained  that  the  programme 
would  be  accomplished.  Great  importance  was  at- 
tached to  the  observance  of  tliese  rules.  Professors 
were  obliged  to  take  the  following  oath:  "I  swear 
to  read,  and  to  finish  reading,  within  the  times  fixed 
by  the  statutes,  the  books  or  parts  of  books  which 
have  been  assigned  for  my  lectures."*  Severe  penal- 
ties were  inflicted  on  those  who  had  not  finished  their 
courses  at  the  prescribed  time.  It  is  evident  that  no 
freedom  was  left  to  the  professors  of  those  days.  One 
of  the  vices  common  to  the  instruction  of  the  Middle 
Ages  under  all  its  forms,  was  that  of  subjecting  the 
masters  to  rules  too  minute,  too  imperative,  in  such 
a  way  as  to  prevent  all  originality  and  engender  a 
merely  routine  compliance  with  them.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  method  pur- 
sued secured  great  order  and  regularity;  it  permitted 
no  gaps  in  the  instruction.® 

What  methods  were  followed?  "Sometimes,"  says 
Savigny,  "  the  professors  spoke  extemporaneously  and 
sometimes  they  read.  Among  the  courses  that  have 
been  preserved  to  us,  there  are  certainly  some  that 
were  improvised;  thus,  in  those  of  Odofredus,*  the 
vivacity  and  familiarity,  but  also  the  carelessness,  of 
oral  instruction  are  recognizable."*     In  any  case  the 

1  It  seems  that  the  ordinary  courses  only  were  subject  to  the 
obligation  of  the  puncta  taxata. 

2  M.  Fournier,  t.  i,  p.  63. 

3  Libros  suos  legent  in  ordine,  sine  saltu. 

*  Odofredus  taught  with  distinction  in  Bologna  sometime  after 
Irnerius.  *  Savigny,  ch.  xxiii,  204. 


232  ABELARD 

instruction  was  always  oral;  the  professors  were  for- 
bidden to  show  their  notes  to  the  students  or  to  allow 
them  to  read  the  notes.  One  detail  which  proves 
that  the  courses  were  not  so  monotonous  as  one  might 
be  tempted  to  believe,  is  that  the  students  might  in- 
terrupt the  professors  and  ask  them  questions,  a  cus- 
tom much  followed  in  the  evening  courses,  which  thus 
became  conferences  rather  than  exclusively  didactic 
lectures.  Another  useful  practice  was  that  of  repeti- 
tions (repetitiones) ^  "We  ordain,"  said  the  statutes 
of  Montpellier,  "  that  all  the  professors  (ordinarii  vel 
extraordinarii)  be  bound  to  hold  a  repetition  at  least 
three  times  a  year  (ter  repetere  in  omni  anno).'^  At 
Bologna,  likewise,  there  were  repetitiones,  to  which 
the  professor  frequently  relegated  the  examination 
of  the  questiones ;  that  is,  of  the  real  or  imaginary 
lawsuits  which  might  be  decided  by  the  legal  point 
examined  in  the  course.^ 

Finally,  the  disputatio,  the  argumentation,  that 
favorite  exercise  of  the  Middle  Ages,  also  had  its 
place  in  the  Faculties  of  Law,  "The  argumenta- 
tions, "  says  Savigny,  "  could  only  be  participated  in 
by  doctors,  or  by  students  aspiring  to  a  salaried  chair. 
All  the  bachelors  might  be  present  at  the  disputations, 

'  "A  repetition,"  says  Savigny,  "was  the  detailed  explanation 
of  a  text,  with  the  solution  of  all  difficulties  and  the  reply  to  all 
objections  that  it  might  raise." 

2  "  The  same  usage  existed  everywhere.  The  statutes  of  1303  of 
the  University  of  Avignon,  said:  'The  ordinary  doctors  of  civil 
and  of  canon  law  shall  make  a  formal  repetition  two  months  after 
the  commencement  of  the  course'"  (Fouriiier,  §  11,  p.  313).  The 
repetitions  were  sometimes  entrusted  to  the  doctors  themselves 
(at  Bologna),  sometimes  to  the  bachelors  by  preference  (at  Mont- 
pellier). 


FACULTIES   OF   CIVIL  AND  CANON  LAW       233 

and  all  the  students  had  the  right  of  argumentation. 
The  subject  of  the  disputation  was  a  point  of  law.  .  .  . 
The  argumentations  lasted  from  Lent  to  Pentecost."^ 

The  duration  of  the  studies  varied  greatly  from  one 
university  to  another.  At  Montpellier,  the  regulation 
of  1339  declares  that  the  students  must  be  prevented 
from  making  too  great  haste  to  attain  the  baccalaureate 
and  the  doctorate  (ne  quis  ad  baccalariatum  et  subse- 
quenter  ad  doctoratum  nimis  propere  prosilire  audeat). 
Consequently,  six  years  of  study  were  required  for  the 
baccalaureate  in  civil  law,  and  five  for  the  doctorate : 
eleven  years  in  all.  It  is  true  that  dispensations 
might  be  granted  by  the  Bishop  of  Maguelonne  to 
bachelors  who  had  distinguished  themselves,  after 
three  years  of  study.  "At  Bologna,"  says  Savigny, 
**  eight  years  were  required  to  become  a  civil  lawyer." 
Petrarch  studied  seven  years  at  Montpellier  and 
Bologna,  and  had  finished  his  legal  studies  at  twenty- 
two.  But  Petrarch  was  not  an  ordinary  student,  and 
it  is  certain  that  the  great  majority  of  his  comrades 
took  more  time  to  reach  the  end  of  their  scholastic 
life. 

How  was  the  work  of  the  students  regulated  in  other 
respects?  We  have  few  details  on  this  point.  It  is 
probable  that  the  custom  of  writing  during  the  courses 
was  as  prevalent  as  in  our  own  day,  if  not  still  more 
so,  on  account  of  the  scarcity  of  books.*    But  the 

1  Savigny,  ch.  xxi,  §  100. 

2  The  courses  were  most  often  dictated.  Even  when  it  was 
attempted,  as  happened  more  tlian  once,  especially  at  Paris,  to 
compel  the  professors  to  speak  extemporaneously,  they  were  per- 
mitted to  repeat  twice  what  they  said,  so  as  to  give  the  students 
time  to  write. 


234  ABELARD 

regulations  of  Montpellier,  like  those  of  Toulouse, 
while  abounding  in  recommendations  on  many  sub- 
jects, for  instance,  on  the  duty  of  being  present  at 
Mass  on  Sundays,  and  at  the  annual  Mass  for  the 
repose  of  the  dead;  on  decency  in  clothing;  on  the 
prohibition  against  dancing  outside  of  one's  own 
house,  gaming  for  money,  etc. ;  are  silent  as  to  the 
obligations  of  students  with  regard  to  their  personal 
tasks.  Everything  was  comprehended,  it  appears,  in 
following  the  courses  (audire),  and,  when  one  had 
become  a  bachelor,  in  continuing  to  attend  the  lec- 
tures of  the  masters,  and  giving  lectures  in  their  turn 
(legere). 

IV 

A  few  words  still  remain  to  be  said  concerning  the 
teaching  of  canon  law,  which,  in  most  of  the  Facul- 
ties was  done  conjointly  with  that  of  civil  law,  but 
which,  at  Paris,  was  the  especial  object  of  legal 
study. 

If  it  were  necessary  to  take  the  maxim  of  Seneca 
literally,  "  Timeo  hominem  unius  libri"  nothing  could 
be  more  awe-inspiring  than  the  Faculties  of  the  Mid- 
dle Ages.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  hardly  any  of  them 
had  more  than  one  book,  or  a  single  author,  as  the 
subject  of  study.  The  Faculty  of  Arts  had  Aristotle, 
the  Faculty  of  Civil  Law  had  the  Corpus  juris  of 
Justinian,  the  Faculty  of  Canon  Law  had  Gratian's 
Decretal. 

The  study  of  canon  law,  which  was  at  first  consid- 
ered a  part  of  the  theological  course  of  study,  became 


FACULTIES  OF  CIVIL  AND  CANON  LAW       235 

specialized  after  the  appearance  of  the  Decretal  of 
Gratian,  in  1151.  And  it  is  to  be  observed  that  for 
canon  law,  as  well  as  for  civil  law,  the  incentive  pro- 
ceeded from  Bologna.  Gratian,  in  fact,  was  a  Bo- 
lognese  monk.  He  made  a  compilation  of  the  canons 
of  the  Councils,  papal  decrees,  and  extracts  from  the 
Fathers  of  the  Church,  and  arranged  these  matters  in 
an  orderly  and  methodical  manner.  The  spirit  of  his 
book  could  not  but  be  agreeable  to  the  Court  of  Rome, 
for  Gratian,  who  was  criticised  in  later  times  by  the 
Galileans,  and  notably  by  the  Abbe  Fleury  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  "made  the  power  of  the  Pope 
unlimited."  ^  Hence  his  work  was  approved  by  Euge- 
nius  III,  and  the  School  of  Bologna,  which  was  teach- 
ing Justinian  law  with  great  success,  adopted  also  the 
Decretal  of  Gratian.^  Thence  it  passed  into  the  other 
universities.  The  Faculty  of  Paris  took  the  name  of 
Faculty  of  Decretal,  and  the  work  of  the  Bolognese 
monk  became  the  basis  of  its  instruction. 

The  other  books  studied  by  the  canonists  were,  in 
fact,  mere  complements  of  the  Decretal :  the  Decretales, 
the  Sexta,  the  Clementines.  The  Decretals  had  been 
put  together  in  1234,  in  a  collection  of  five  volumes, 
by  Raymond  de  Pennafort,  General  of  the  Dominicans, 
under  the  title  of  the  Decretals  of  Gregory  IX,  or 
Extra;  that  is  to  say,  aside  from  the  decretals  col- 
lected by  Gratian.  Boniface  VIII,  in  1298,  added  a 
sixth  book,  whence  its  name  of  Sexta.     Finally,  the 

1  Crevier,  t.  i,  p.  241. 

2  From  this  time  on  Bologna  had  two  schools  of  law,  the  students 
of  which  formed  but  one  university,  although  they  had  distinct 
professors. 


236  ABELARD 

Clementines,  which  contained  the  letters  of  Clement  V, 
were  published  in  1313. 

In  the  Faculty  of  Decretal,  as  in  that  of  Civil 
Law,  there  was  a  perpetual  confusion  of  ordinary  and 
extraordinary  courses.^  In  early  times,  at  Paris,  it 
was  enough  to  have  been  a  civil  lawyer  for  three 
years  in  order  to  be  admitted  as  a  student  of  canon 
law;  but  this  condition  was  speedily  abolished,  be- 
cause it  had  the  effect  of  excluding  the  members  of 
religious  orders,  to  whom  the  study  of  civil  law  was 
forbidden.  In  1370,  to  become  a  bachelor  it  was 
necessary  to  have  studied  canon  law  during  forty- 
eight  months  within  the  space  of  six  years.  At 
Bologna,  says  Savigny,  six  years  of  study  were  also 
required  to  become  a  canonist. 

The  Faculty  of  Canon  Law  seems  to  have  been  one 
of  those  in  which  the  studies  were  least  difficult,  and 
wherein  professors  and  pupils  had  the  most  leisure. 
The  holidays,  so  frequent  in  all  the  Faculties,  were 
still  more  so  for  the  decretists  of  Paris,  who  had,  ac- 
cording to  Thurot,  in  addition  to  the  sixty  feast  days 
common  to  the  whole  university,  thirty-four  that  were 
special  to  themselves.^  In  the  statutes  of  Montpellier, 
which  claimed,  nevertheless,  to  reduce  the  number  of 
holidays,  "  which  have  been  recognized,"  say  they,  "as 
chiefly  occasions  of  expense,"  we  find  the  long  list 

1  At  Bologna  the  ordinary  lessons  treated  of  the  Decretum  and 
the  Decretals ;  at  Montpellier,  all  the  books  were  used,  sometimes 
in  the  ordinary  and  sometimes  in  the  extraordinary  courses.  At 
Bologna,  in  other  words,  such  or  such  a  book  was  considered  funda- 
mental ;  at  Montpellier  the  same  book  was  interpreted  in  courses 
of  different  natures.  "  Thurot,  p.  173. 


FACULTIES  OF   CIVIL  AND   CANON  LAW      237 

of  saints  whose  days  the  students  were  called  upon  to 
celebrate.^  But  the  official  holidays  were  far  from 
being  the  only  ones  on  which  the  professors  of  canon 
law  absented  themselves  from  their  lectures.  Little 
by  little,  they  came  to  consider  the  doctorate  as  a  sine- 
cure; they  entrusted  to  bachelors  the  care  of  instruc- 
tion in  their  stead.  "The  Faculty  of  Decretal,"  says 
Thurot,  "  was  the  most  corrupt  and  venal  of  all  the 
Faculties ;  it  had  neither  masters  nor  students :  it  had 
only  sellers  and  buyers."  ^  The  abuses  became  so  cry- 
ing in  the  sixteenth  century,  that  the  Parliament  of 
Paris,  in  1533,  decided  that  thenceforward  there 
should  be  but  six  doctor  regents,  who  should  be 
chosen  by  competition  and  obliged  to  give  their  lec- 
tures seriously.  This  was  the  ^^  college  sexviral" 
concerning  which,  ten  years  later,  in  spite  of  the 
reforms  that  had  been  wrought.  Ramus  was  unsparing 
in  his  criticism. 

There  is  no  disguising  the  fact  that  the  doctors  of 
law  whether  canonists  or  civil  lawyers,  rich  ecclesias- 
tics or  rich  advocates,  formed  a  class,  a  caste  by  them- 
selves, in  the  universities  of  the  Middle  Ages.  One 
recalls  what  Pope  Honorius  said  about  their  luxury, 
At  Paris,  in  order  to  be  a  doctor  of  the  Faculty  of  De- 
cretal, it  was  necessary  to  prove  an  income  of  eighty 
livres  (about  five  hundred  francs  of  our  money).  The 
decretists  of  Paris  constituted  a  collegium,  in  imitation 

1  Fournier,  t.  ii,  p.  53.  At  Bologna  there  were  about  thirty  holi- 
days, including  fifteen  days  at  Easter,  and  eleven  at  Christmas. 
If  no  feast  day  occurred  during  the  week,  lessons  were  suspended 
on  Thursday.  2  Thurot,  p.  183. 


238  ABELARD 

of  the  colleges  of  Bologna,  entrance  to  which  was  ex- 

/  tremely  difficult.    The  doctors  of  Bologna  bound  them- 

/    selves  by  oath,  toAvards  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth 

I     century,  not  to  confer  the   doctorate  on  any  except 

f      their  sons,  their  brothers,  or  their  nephews,  seeking 

I      thus  to  make  it  hereditary  in  their  own  families;  and 

in  spite  of  the  Rector,  and  of  the  opposition  of  the 

j     inhabitants  of  the  city,  they  more  than  once  rejected 

f^^fitt. candidates  who  had  the  misfortune  of  not  being 

( their  relatives  by  blood  or  marriage.     If  masters  of 

arts,  and  even  theologians,  occasionally  showed  little 
sympathy  for  the  jurists,  the  latter  repaid  them  with 
something  of  disdain.  They  really  considered  them- 
selves as  belonging  to  another  race,  these  professors 
of  law  who,  at  Poitiers,  for  example,  maintained  that 
hereditary  nobility  even,  was  a  prerogative  of  their 
position,  and  who  added  in  their  diffuse  style :  "  Tlie 
texts  of  Roman  law  have  always  lavished  the  most 
honorable  titles  on  the  professors  of  law:  they  are 
spoken  of  as  noble,  as  very  noble,  as  magnificent,  as 
ministers  and  priests  of  justice.  .  .  .  The  emperors 
Theodosius  and  Valentinian  honored  them,  after 
twenty  years  of  service,  with  the  title  of  counts  of 
the  first  rank.  In  the  imperial  chamber  of  8pires, 
doctors  and  nobles  enjoy  the  same  prerogatives." 
There  was  an  evident  pretension  on  the  part  of  the 
doctors  of  law  to  place  themselves  above  the  rest.  In 
those  days  of  privilege  men  had  not  yet  arrived  at 
regarding  equality  as  the  rule  both  in  scientific  and 
in  civil  society;  they  had  not  as  yet  come  to  admit 
that  in  the  Republic  of  Letters  there  is  no  primacy 
save  such  as  belongs  to  knowledge  and  talent.     And 


FACULTIES   OF  CIVIL  AND  CANON  LAW      23d 

particularly  were  they  wanting  in  that  ideal  cherished 
by  the  moderns,  of  an  university  wherein,  no  rivalry 
existing  between  Faculty  and  Faculty,  the  representa- 
tives of  various  orders  of  studies,  in  the  most  perfect 
solidarity  and  union,  each  in  his  own  place  and 
with  equal  rights,  shall  labor  —  for  the  diffusion  of 
universal  knowledge. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  FACULTIES  OF  MEDICINE 

I.  Unfavorable  attitude  of  the  Middle  Ages  toward  medical  studies 
—  Experience  neglected  —  Nevertheless  an  important  movement 
in  medical  studies  began  at  Salerno  — Tlie  Abbey  of  Monte- 
Cassino  —  Constantine  the  African  and  his  influence  —  The  stat- 
utes of  King  Roger  II  and  of  the  Emperor  Frederick  II  —  The 
School  of  Montpellier  —  Importance  of  this  university  —  Influ- 
ence of  Arabian  Medicine  —  Italian  physicians  in  France  —  II. 
Books  and  Methods  —  Theoretic  teaching  —  Hippocrates  and 
Galen  —  Salernitan  books  —  Other  modern  text-books  —  Odd  pro- 
hibitions—  Medicines  for  the  Soul  applied  first  —  Lack  of  prac- 
tical teaching  —  Dissection  rare  —  Surgery  despised. 


Medical  studies  doubtless  resulted  in  nothing  very- 
brilliant  during  the  Middle  Ages.  The  revival  of  ex- 
perimental methods  and  the  coming  of  the  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth  centuries  were  necessary  before  seri- 
ous physiological  studies  modified  and  transformed 
the  art  of  healing,  or,  at  least,  the  treatment  of 
disease.  Although,  in  his  letters  patent  of  1396, 
relating  to  the  University  of  Montpellier,  Charles  VI, 
King  of  France,  had  already  declared  that  "Experi- 
ence is  the  mistress  of  sciences,  especially  of  medical 
science," '   yet   experience   gained  little    honor  in  an 

1  "  .  .  .  Expcrientia  quie  in  facto  mcdicinali  prxsertim  res  est 
mayistra.  ..."     (Fournier,  t.  ii,  p.  1G2.) 
240 


THE  FACULTIES  OP    MEDICINE  241 

age  when  the  authority  of  Aristotle  outweighed  the 
authority  of  nature.  Consequently,  medical  instruc- 
tion lagged  along  in  the  rut  of  routine,  repeating  the 
lessons  of  Hippocrates  and  Galen,  and  as  much  en- 
slaved to  commenting  on  the  texts  of  Greek  or  Alex- 
andrian medicine,  as  juridical  instruction  was  to  the 
task  of  explaining  the  monuments  of  Roman  law. 

Moreover,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  religious 
and  mystical  spirit  of  the  Middle  Ages,  which  was  too 
frequently  inclined  to  see  in  maladies  the  signs  of 
divine  wrath,  and  to  look  to  the  divine  will  alone  for  - 
their  cure,  placed  more  reliance  on  spiritual  succor, 
or  the  intervention  of  the  terrestrial  representatives 
of  the  Deity,  than  on  the  healing  virtues  of  human 
science.  Jesus,  healing  the  sick  by  the  imposition"  of  ~) 
His  hands,  giving  sight  to  the  blind,  movement  to 
paralytics,  and  by  invoking  the  living  God,  restoring 
the  dead  to  life  in  the  name  of  His  Father,  seemed  to 
have  announced  to  the  world  that  prayer  and  faith  were  I 
the  best  and  most  powerful  remedies  against  human 
infirmities.^  Hence  kings,  the  delegates  of  Divine 
power,  attributed  to  themselves  the  power  to  cure 
scrofulous  and  other  diseased  persons  simply  by  touch- 
ing them.  The  monks,  not  disdainful  of  medicine, 
and  joining  that  mode  of  action  to  all  others,  yet 
recommended  prayer,  pilgrimages  to  places  of  devo- 
tion, and  visits  to  the  relics  of  saints  first  of  all. 

And  yet,  in  spite  of  all  prejudices  to  tlie  contrary, 
medical  instruction  was  given  in  the  Middle  Ages. 
The  majority  of  the  universities  had  their  Faculty  of 

1  Lacroix,  Sciences  et  arts  au  moyen  age,  Paris,  Didot,  1887. 
Sciences  medicales,  p.  149. 


242  ABELAUt) 

Medicine.  In  Italy,  Salerno  and  Naples,  Plaisance, 
Arezzo,  Kome,  Perugia,  Treviso,  Pisa,  Florence,  Siena, 
Pavia,  Ferrara ;  in  France,  Paris,  MontpeHier,  Tou- 
louse, Avignon,  Cahors,  Grenoble,  Perpignan,  Orange ; 
in  England,  Oxford ;  in  Ireland,  Dublin ;  in  Spain, 
Salamanca,  Lerida,  Huesca ;  in  Portugal,  Coimbra ;  in 
Austria,  Prague,  Cracow,  Ofen;  in  Germany,  Heidel- 
berg, Erfurt ;  more  than  than  thirty  cities,  in  a  word,  I 
have  had  regular  bodies  of  medical  professors  ever/ 
since  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries.       ^  j 

To  explain  this  movement,  apparently  so  consider- 
able, notice  must  be  taken  of  a  multitude  of  en- 
tirely independent  efforts;  nor  must  we  forget  the 
influence  exerted  by  Arabian  medicine.  But  it  re- 
mains none  the  less  true,  that  there  was  an  initial 
rCfintre  of  action  for  medicine,  as  well  as  for  philosophy, 
the  arts,  and  law.  The  impulse  came  first  of  all  from 
a  city,  —  Salerno ;  and  in  that  city  from  a  man,  — 
Constantine.  surnamed  the  African,  who  merits,  all 
things  considered,  to  be  placed  in  the  same  rank  as 
the  other  two  great  initiators  of  university  instruc- 
tion, Abelard  and  Irnerius. 

It  is  indisputable  that  the  school  of  Salerno  was 
a  source  of  medical  studies  in  the  Middle  Ages,  fona 
medicinoe,  as  Petrarch  said.  And  it  must  be  noticed 
at  once  that  this  school  was  never  erected  into  a 
university.  Only  a  few  miles  distant  from  the  city 
of  Naples,  it  was,  one  might  say,  incorporated  with 
the  University  of  Naples ;  it  became  a  sort  of  detached 
member  when  the  latter  was  organized  by  the  Emperor 
Frederick  II,  in  1224. 

Let  me  briefly  recall  the  history  of  the  school  of 


THE  FACULTIES  OF  MEDICINE  243 

— ^ 
Salerno,'  since  for  medicine  it  has  been  what  Bologna  i 

was  for  law  and  Paris  for  philosophy.     It  seems  that  | 
its  first  beginnings  must  be  sought  for  in  the  Abbey 
of  Monte-Cassino,    founded   by   the   Benedictines   in 
528,  at  some  distance  from  Salerno.     Medicine  was 
studied    in    this    monastery   with    marked   devotion. 
The  monks  copied  and  recopied  the  works  of  Hippo- 
crates and  Galen,  which  had  been  translated  into  Latin 
as  early  as  the  sixth  century.     The  abbots  of  Mont^ 
Cassino  were  distinguished  for  their  medical  knowl- ; 
edge.     About  856,   Bertharius   compiled  a  summary^j 
of   hygienic    rules;     after  him,    Alphanus    wrote   a 
book  on   The  Union  of  Soul  and  Body,  and  another 
entitled  The  Four  Humors;  finally,  Pope  Victor  III 
(1085),  who  had  been   previously  abbot  of  Monte- 
Cassino,  is  reputed  to  have  been  medicince  peritissimus. 
From  the  monastery  of  Monte-Cassino  the  taste"~f©i^ 
medical  studies  spread  as  far  as  Salerno ;  and  by  th^ 
eleventh  century,  the  little  town  had  become  an  in-j 
tellectual  centre  which  attracted  students  from  all. 
parts  of  Western  Europe.     "I  think,"  says  Laurie,) 
"that  the  school  of   Salerno  may  be   considered  as 
having  been  a  public  school  from  lOGO,  and  a  privi- 
leged school  after  1100." "    It  was  in  the  latter  year 
that  the  physicians   of   Salerno,  styling  themselves 
tota  schola  Salerni,  dedicated  to  the  King  of  England 
their  celebrated   rules   of   health,   written   in    Latin 
verse.     It  is  indubitable,  and  the  fact  deserves  notice, 
that  medical  studies  were  the   first  that    formed    a 

1  See  Laurie,  op.  cit..  Lecture  VII. 

2  The  school  seems  to  me  to  have  heen  chiefly  organized  after  the 
Normans  had  conquered  Salerno,  that  is,  after  1075. 


244  ABELARD 

regular  centre  of  instruction  in  the  Middle  Ages ;  the 
schools  of  Bologna  and  Paris,  in  fact,  date  from  the 
twelfth  century  only. 

But,  as  I  have  said,  the  honor  of  making  known  the 
school  of  Salerno,  of  giving  it  by  his  personal  labors 
a  vigorous  impulse  toward  higher  studies,  and  of 
being,  in  a  word,  its  veritable  founder,  was  reserved 
for  one  man.  Constantine,  surnamed  the  African, 
whose  works  we  shall  presently  find  inscribed  on  the 
programmes  of  the  Erench  medical  faculties,  was  a 
remarkable  man  for  his  time.  Born  at  Carthage,  in 
the  first  half  of  the  eleventh  century,  he  travelled 
throughout  the  East,  studied  in  Babylon,  visited  India 
and  Egypt,  and  finally  established  himself  in  Carthage 
as  a  physician.  But,  for  one  reason  or  another,  per- 
haps because  his  compatriots  accused  him  of  sorcery, 
—  an  accusation  seldom  spared  the  physicians  of  that 
age,  —  he  took  refuge  in  Salerno  about  the  year  10G3. 
There  he  became  the  secretary  and  favorite  of  the 
Norman,  Robert  Guiscard,  who  had  just  seized  pos- 
session of  Southern  Italy.*  Finally  he  retired  to 
Monte-Cassino,  where  he  died  in  1087.  Constantine] 
composed  a  considerable  number  of  works,  some  of 
them  original,  some  mere  translations ;  among  others, 
the  Viaticum,  translated  from  the  Arabian  physician, 
Ysaac,  which  found  its  way  later  into  all  the  schools^ 

The  favor  extended  to  Constantine  by  Robert  Guis- 
card was  not  improbably  connected  with  the  protec- 
tion granted  to  the  school  of  Salerno  by  the  Norman 
conqueror,  who  conferred  on  it  privileges  that  were 
confirmed   by   his   successors.     Some  years  later,  in 

1  Robert  Guiscard  (1015-1085). 


THE   FACULTIES   OF   MEDICINE  245 

1137,  Roger  II,  King  of  Sicily,  regulated  for  the  first 
time,  as  it  seems,  the  professional  examinations  in 
medicine.  The  doctors  of  the  school,  aided  by  the 
royal  assessors,  constituted  the  jury,  and  conferred 
the  license  —  not  the  right  to  teach,  but  the  right  to 
practise  medicine  (licentia  medendi).  Any  person  ) 
pretending  to  exercise  the  medical  art  without  having^ 
obtained  this  license,  was  punished  by  the  confisca- 
tion of  his  property  and  a  year's  imprisonment.  The 
edict  of  King  Roger  said  that  these  measures  were 
taken  in  order  to  prevent  ne  in  regno  nostra  suhjecti 
periditentur  imperitia  medicormn. 

Statutes  analogous  to  this  were  promulgated  in 
1247  by  the  Emperor  Frederick  II,  then  master  of 
Southern  Italy.  Salerno,  thenceforward  attached  to 
the  University  of  Naples,  remained  the  privileged 
school  of  medicine.'  Those  desiring  to  pursue  a 
course  of  medical  study,  which  lasted  for  five  years, 
must  have  already  followed  a  course  of  logic  for  three 
years  in  the  school  of  arts.  Moreover,  after  the  five 
years  employed  in  studying  medicine  and  surgery, 
"  which  is,"  say  the  statutes,  "  a  part  of  medicine," 
the  new  doctor  was  bound,  for  still  another  year,  not 
to  practise  his  art  except  under  the  supervision  {cum 
consilio)  of  an  experienced  physician.  Doctors  were 
enjoined  to  give  advice  to  the  poor  gratuitously ;  and  ' 
also  to  visit  their  patients  twice  every  day  and  once  \ 
during  the  night.  The  imperial  edict  also  fixed  the 
charge  for  these  visits,    when  they  were  to  be  paid   ' 

1  See  the  text  in  Duboulay,  t.  iii.p.  150.  .  .  .  "XuUuk  in  medi- 
cina  vel  in  chirurgia  nisi  apud  Salernutn  vel  Neapolem  legal  in 
regno." 


24C  ABELARD 

I  for.     Other  very  detailed  rules  were  established  relat- 
liug-to  the  sale  of  medicines.     The  books  to  be  studied 
were  those  of  Hippocrates  and  Galen. 

gerno,  then,  was  the  initiator  of  medical  studies 
i  Middle  Ages.  These  studies  were  held  in  such 
•  that  even  women  pursued  them,  thus  taking 
ience  of  the  doctresses  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
Mrfljaurie  mentions  Sichelgaita,  a  sister  of  Gisulfe, 
Duke  of  Salerno  before  the  Norman  Conquest,  who 
"had  a  medical  reputation,  especially  in  the  depart- 
ment of  poisons."  The  reputation  of  Salerno  was 
European.  In  1090,  Duke  Robert,  brother  of  William 
the  Conqueror,  repaired  tliither  on  his  return  from 
the  Crusade,  in  order  to  be  healed  of  a  grievous 
wound. 

But  while   Salerno   was  flourishing   in  Italy,  and 

bj;  its  direct  influence  leading  to  the  foundation  of 

[Faculties  of  Medicine  in  a  great  number  of  Italian 

I  universities,  another  school,  that  of  Montpellier,  was 

*  developing  in  France,  chiefly  under  the  influence  of 

Spanish  and  Arabian  medicine.     The  first  statutes  of 

the  Montpellier  Faculty  of  Medicine  date  from  1220,^ 

about  the  same  time  that  the  statutes  of  Frederick  II 

(were  issued  for  Salerno.     But  in  these  very  statutes 

it  is  said  that  instruction  in  medical  science  had  long 

been  held  in  honor  at  Montpellier,  and  had  diffused 

its  benefits  throughout  all  parts  of  the  world. 

fxhe  conditions  at  Montpellier  were  specially  favor- 

/able  to  its  becoming  a  centre  of  university  studies. 

1  It  was  Cardinal  Conrad,  the  Pope's  legate,  who  drew  up  these 
statutes.  Others  were  drawn  up  in  1240  and  in  1340  (see  Fournier, 
t.  li,  pp.  4,  7,  66). 


THE  FACULTIES  OF  MEDICINE  247 

From  early  times  a  commercial  rendezvous,  where] 
Christians  and  Saracens,  Arabs  from  Spain  and  mer- 
chants from  Lombardy,  came  to  traffic,  it  displayed 
hospitality  to  foreigners,  and  the  learned  men  of  Italy ' 
and  Spain  followed  the  traders  thither.  "  Those  who 
came  from  Spain,"  says  M.  Croiset,  "were  chiefly 
Jewish  physicians.  Montpellier  was  at  that  period  i 
one  of  those  cities  in  the  world  where  they  had  the 
greatest  chance  of  living  a  quiet  life.  Commerce  had 
introduced  a  relative  tolerance  in  manners  and  cus- 
toms which  was  greatly  to  their  advantage.  DisciplesJ 
of  Avicenna  and  Averroes,  they  brought  with  them  an 
Arabian  science  wholly  permeated  with  Greek  tradi- 
tion. Thanks  to  their  influence,  Montpellier,  from 
the  twelfth  century,  had  a  medical  reputation."^. 
This  reputation  increased  as  time  went  on ;  and  "  while 
the  school  of  Salerno  became  extinct,  Montpellier  has 
remained  great  throughout  the  ages."  *  The  medical 
diplomas  of  Montpellier  are  still  esteemed  by  foreign- 
ers. Rabelais  took  his  degrees  there  in  the  sixteenth 
century.  Locke  went  there  to  study  in  the  seventeenth. 
Throughout  the  Middle  Ages  the  reputation  of  Mont- 
pellier, like  that  of  Salerno,  was  universal.  "It  is 
at  Montpellier,"  wrote  Charles  the  Bad,  King  of 
Navarre,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  "that  common 
opinion  locates  the  source  of  medical  science ;  and  it 
is  for  that  reason  that  popes  and  kings  summon  its 
masters  to  come  and  heal  them."     It  Avas  Montpellier 

1  Les  Fetes  du  Centenaire  de  Montpellier,  1889.    Discours  de  M. 
Croiset. 

2  Ibid.    Discours  de  M.  Gaudenzi,  professor  of  the  University  of 
Bologna. 


248  ABELARD 

that  Charles  VI,  in  his  Letters  Patent  of  1396,  called 
the  source  {fons  originalis)  of  medical  science.  It 
was  a  professor  of  Montpellier,  Guy  de  Chauliac,  who 
published  in  the  fourteenth  century  (1363)  his  Grande 
Chirurgie,  of  which  Victor  Leclerc  has  said  that  it 
"marked  a  notable  progress  in  studies  based  on  the 
observation  of  nature."  ^ 

Does  it  follow  that  Italian  influence  did  not  make 
itself  felt  in  Montpellier  and  other  Faculties  of 
medicine  in  the  west  of  Europe  ?  Ko  ;  in  what  con- 
cerns surgery  especially,  that  influence  is  manifest. 
Guy  de  Chauliac,  whom  I  have  just  cited,  had  studied 
at  Bologna.  Says  Littr^ :  "  There  is  a  fact  worthy  of 
attention  in  the  history  of  surgery  in  France  during 
the  second  half  of  the  thirteenth  century.  A  nunitJGT" 
of  Italian  doctors,  who  were  at  once  physicians  and 
surgeons,  having  abandoned  their  country  in  conse- 
quence of  the  troubles  occasioned  by  the  rivalries  of 
the  Guelphs  and  Ghibellines,  took  refuge  on  French 
soil,  and  brought  thither  the  doctrines  and  works  of 
Albou  Kasis,^  that  famous  Arabian  physician,  born 
in  Spain,  who  is  regarded  as  the  restorer  of  surgi- 
cal science.  This  importation  seems  to  date  from 
the  arrival  in  Paris  of  a  doctor  from  the  school 
of  Salerno,  Roger  of  Salerno,  or  Roger  of  Parma." '^ 

*  Guy  de  Chauliac  published  his  book  under  this  title:  Inven- 
torium  sive  collectorium  partin  chirartjicalis  mcdicAnx.  In  15ilU 
this  work  was  translated  into  French  under  the  title  of  Grande 
Chirurgie. 

2  Albou  Kasis  died  in  1107,  author  of  several  works  on  medicine 
and  surgery  whieh  have  been  several  times  translated  into  Latin. 
From  the  fourtecMith  century  liis  aiitliority  was  quoted  in  France  as 
equal  to  that  of  Hippocrates  and  (Talen. 

8  "After  him  came  successively  to  France,  Bruno  of  Calabria, 


THE   FACULTIES   OF   MEDICINE  249 

It  has  been  claimed,  but  not  proven,  that  Roger  of 
Parma  (died  about  1280)  must  have  been  Chancellor 
of  the  University  of  Montpellier.  And  this  impor-' 
tation  of  Italian  science  was  not  without  its  uses  in 
reanimating  and  enlightening  French  surgery,  if  we 
may  believe  Lanfranc  of  Milan,  who,  on  his  arrival 
in  France,  about  1290,  said  that  "French  surgeons- 
were  real  bunglers,  and  so  ignorant  that  one  could 
scarcely  find  a  rational  surgeon  among  them."  ^  An- 
other French  physician  of  the  end  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  who  had  studied  at  Salerno,^  John  of  St. 
Paul.  Others  had  doubtless  done  the  same;  and, 
in  any  case,  it  is  easy  to  see,  in  the  writings  of  the 
French  physicians  of  the  thirteenth  century,  that  all 
of  them  quote  with  respect  and  admiration  the  author- 
ities of  the  School  of  Salerno,  not  merely  Constan- 
tine  and  Ysaac,  but  Nicolas,  Romuald,  Bartholomans, 
and  many  others. 

Let  me  attempt  a  brief  sketch  of  the  studies  pur- 
sued in  the  medical  schools  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and, 
in  the  first  place,  of  the  theoretical  instruction  given 
therein.  The  most  precise  indication  of  the  works 
that  served  as  text-books  for  the  professors  of  medicine 
is  found  in  a  bull  of  Clement  V  (1309),  concerning  the 
authors  to  be  studied  and  the  forms  to  be  observed 
in  conferring  degrees  in  the  Faculty  of  Medicine  at 
Montpellier.^  Another  document,  somewhat  earlier 
than  this  (1270-1274),  a  regulation  determining  tlie 

Lanfranc  of  Milan,  Thaddens  of  Bologna.  .  .  ."  And  Littre  cites 
eit;ht  additional  names,  "  without  counting  other  less  known 
authors  "  (Histoire  litUraire  de  la  France,  t.  xxi,  p.  514). 

1  Ihid.,  p.  517.  2  /5jd.^  p.  409,  8  Fournier,  t.  ii,  p.  21. 


260  ABELARD 

conditions  of  a  license  in  medicine  and  the  authors 
to  be  studied  in  the  Faculty  of  Medicine  at  Paris, 
proves  that  the  programmes  and  regulations  were 
i^Yery.where  the  same.^ 

I     Hippocrates  and  Galen  are  always  the  basis  of  the  in- 
/  struction  given ;  their  principal  works  are  enumerated 
/  under  the  titles  given   by  their   Latin   translators.^ 
^Greek,  as  is  known,  was  not  much  cultivated  in  the 
Middle  Ages ;  and  possibly  it  is  not  erroneously  re- 
lated of  Rabelais,  who  studied  medicine  at  Montpellier 
from  1520  to  1530,  that  he  was  the  first  among  his 
comrades  who  had  read  and  interpreted  the  text  of 
the  Greek  physicians.     By  the  side  of  Hippocrates  ] 
and  Galen,  those  two  Aristotles  of  medicine,  the  pro-  j 
grammes  of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries   | 
find  a  place  for  modern  authors.     First  comes  Con-  \ 
stantine,   the   master   of   Salerno,  with   his   original   ; 
works  and  his  translations  from  Arabian  physicians. 
Among  these  were  his  Viaticum,  and  the   Tlieorica  et  ! 
pratica,  from  the  Arabic  of  Hali- Abbas.     Then  folios^ 
llhazes,  surnamed  "  the  observer  "  (850-953),  who  had 
been  a  doctor  in  the  hospital  of  Bagdad ;  the  Persian 
Avicenna  (980-       ),  who  Avas  called  the  "prince  of 
doctors,"  but  whose  works  were  little  more  than  a 
compilation  of  the  ideas  of  Galen ;  Ysaac,  who  had 
written    several   treatises   in   Arabic,    most   of   them 
translated  by  Constantine,  among  others,  the  Distce 

*  Chartularinm  Univ.  Paris.,  t.  i,  p.  517. 

2  Of  Hippocrates,  the  books  of  the  Pronoaticorum  and  tho 
Aphorismontm ;  of  Galen,  the  following:  De  Complcxionihus,  De 
M(ditia  complcxionis  divcrax,  De.  SinipUci  medicina,  De  Morbo  et 
AccidciUe,  De  C'risio  et  Vrilicis  diebiis. 


THE  FACULTIES  OF  MEDICINE  251 

universales  et  particulares,  annotated  by  a  famous  doc- 
tor of  the  Paris  University,  John  of  St.  Amand  (died 
about  1300);  and  the  Liber  Fehrium;^  Johannieus, 
another  Arabian  physician,  author  of  a  work  on  the 
pulse;  Nicolas,  a  doctor  of  Salerno,  whose  Antido- 
tarium  ^  was  a  classic,  and  who  came  to  France  in  the 
tj^^rteenth  century. 

Judging  from  this  list  of  standard  medical  authors, 
the  influence  of  the  Arabs  must  have  been  at  least 
I  equal  to  that  of  the  Greeks  in  the  medical  schools  of 
ItheMifhlle  Ages.*  Mussulman  civilization  has  exerted 
an  influence  on  the  civilization  of  Christianity  whose 
importance  has  not  been  sufficiently  recognized.  It  is 
rather  significant  to  observe  that  in  the  programme 
of  the  Faculty  of  Paris  for  1270,  neither  Hippocrates 
nor  Galen  is  named,  nor  is  any  allusion  made  to  the 
two  famous  Greek  physicians.  .,^__^ 

According  to  the  regulation  of  1272,  the  bachelor 
who  desired  to  obtain  his  license  must  prove  that  he 
had  attended  the  medical  courses  for  five  years,  if  he 
had  been  already  licensed  in  arts,  and  six  years  if  the 
contrary  were  the  ease.  Nothing  is  said  of  the  bac- 
calaureate.    But  it  is  known  from  other  documents 

1  The  Distm  particulares  are  inscribed  on  the  programme  of 
Paris;   the  Liber  Febrium  on  that  of  Montpellier. 

2  Anlidolariuin,  wliicli  seems  properly  to  signify  the  "Book  of 
Antidotes,"  the  counter-poisons,  became  in  the  Middle  Ages  synony- 
mous with  the  "  Book  of  Medicaments."  Kiiazcs  also  Jiiid  written 
an  Antidotarium.  John  of  St.  Amand  annotated  both  of  these 
works. 

'  I  have  mentioned  all  of  them,  excepting  a  work  studied  at 
Paris  and  Montpellier,  the  Liber  urinarum,  whose  author,  Theo- 
phile,  is  unknown  to  us  ;  and  also  the  Versus  Euidii.  I'^gidius  of 
Corbeil  taught  medicine  at  Paris  under  Philip  Augustus. 


ABELARD 

of  the  same  period  that  the  normal  duration  of 
(--yiedical  studies  in  their  totality  was  nine  years. ^  At 
Montpellier,  the  statutes  of  1340  required  twenty-four 
months  of  study  for  the  baccalaureate;^  in  other 
words,  three  years,  each  scholastic  year  counting  eight 
months  only,  by  reason  of  holidays  and  vacations ;  ^ 
the  licentiateship  or  the  doctorate  demanded  five  or 
six  years  more.  Rabelais  in  the  sixteenth  century 
took  a  still  longer  time:  a  bachelor  in  1530,  he  was 
not  a  doctor  until  1537 ;  but  Rabelais  was  an  erratic 
student,  who  wrote  one  part  of  his  Pantagruel  in  the 
interval  between  his  two  diplomas. 

The  distribution  of  lessons  and  the  order  for  the 
reading  and  explanation  of  texts  seem  to  have  been 
regulated  with  less  precision  and  severity  in  the 
iilty  of  Medicine  than  in  that  of  Law.  We  know 
that  lessons  were  given  ordinari^  and  cursorid ;  *■  that 
there  were  disputationes  and  repetitiones;^  and  tliat 
here  as  everywhere,  the  instruction  was  a  literal  in- 
terpretation of  hallowed  texts  rather  than  an  appeal 
to  experience  and  the  individual  judgment  of  the 
pupils.  "  I  copied,"  relates  Platter,  a  student  of 
Montj)ellier,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  "  the  loci  com- 
munes in  tola  medicina;  I  tabulated  the  most  ini})ortant 
books  of  Galen.  Once  my  comrades  and  I  spent  the 
night  in  copying  a  book,  de  componendis  medicamentis. 

1  At  Montpellier  the  same,  or  nearly  the  saine,  rules  existed: 
quinque  annis  si  in  7?ac</6i/s  mugistri  existant  aUoquln  per  sex 
anyios  (Fournier,  t.  ii,  p.  21). 

2  Crevier,  t.  ii,  p.  53.  8  Fournier,  t.  ii,  p.  71. 

^  See  the  rejjulation  already  cited,  of  1270:  "Forma  audit ionis 
librorum  est  quod  barhnlarius  debet  audivisse  bis  artcm  medicinse 
ordiiiaria  et  semel  ciirsoria.  ..."  ^  Fournier,  t.  ii,  p.  70. 


THE  FACULTIES   OF  MEDICINE  253 

We  were  careful  not  to  omit  a  recipe  for  making  the 
hair  grow.  Beardless  as  yet,  we  thought  mustaches 
would  give  us  a  more  respectable  appearance."  ^ 

Texts  and  their  explanations  to  be  listened  to ;  texts  1 
to  copy  and  recopy ;  in  a  word,  a  book  education :  1 
such  the  character  of  medical  instruction  remained  at  ) 
the  height  of  the  Renaissance.  , j 

I  have  already  had  occasion  to  say  that  the  uni- 
versities of  the  Middle  Ages  had  almost  no  idea  of 
the  mutual  service  which  could  be  rendered  by  the 
different  orders  of  studies,  and  barely  suspected  the 
solidarity  of  the  sciences.  A  curious  decree  of 
the  Montpellier  statutes  for  1340,  affords  another 
proof  of  this  :  "  We  have  decided  that  no  master  shall 
read  or  permit  to  be  read  in  the  medical  schools  any 
book  of  grammar  or  logic  " ;  so  far  so  good ;  but  what 
is  to  be  said  of  the  end  of  this  prohibition  ?  "  Nor 
any  book  of  natural  science  except  De  xinimalibus.'^  ^ 

Another  citation  from  the  same  regulations  will  i 
show  how  completely  medicine  in  those  days  subordi- 
nated itself  to  religion,  believing  that  it  could  not  do 
its  work  efficaciously  unless  it  were  aided  by  the 
medicine  of  souls :  "  As  bodily  evils  sometimes  pro- 
ceed from  sin,  and  as  God  said  to  the  sick  man  whom 
He  cured :  '  Go,  and  sin  no  more,  lest  a  worse  evil 
befall  thee,'  we  ordain  that  wlien  a  master  is  called 
to  a  sick  person  in  a  critical  condition,  or  suffering 
from  a  continuous  fever,  lie  shall  in  the  first  place 
counsel  the  patient  to  have  the  physicians  of  the 
soul  summoned,  so  that,  the  spiritual  safety  of  the 
sick  person  being  already  assured,  he  may  afterwards 

1  Valbrigue,  op.  cit.,  p.  22.  2  Fournier,  t.  ii,  p.  70. 


254  ABELARD 

proceed  with  more  success  to  the  remedies  of  bodily 
medicine."  * 

j    The  regulations,  and  notably  those  of  Montpellier, 
forbade  the  practice  of  medicine  before  the  course  of 

a.dy  had  been  completed  and  the  doctor's  degree 
iained.  But  these  prohibitions  were  not  much  ob- 
ved.  The  newest  and  most  inexperienced  bachelors 
practised  their  art  (and  Crevier  testifies  that  the  case 
was  the  same  at  Paris),  "  without  hindrance,  although 
without  legal  authorization."^  At  Moutpellier  still 
greater  laxness  was  displayed ;  bachelors  were  author- 
ized to  practise  medicine,  with  the  bizarre  restriction, 
which  proves  a  certain  contempt  for  countrymen,  that 
they  should  bind  themselves  by  oath  not  to  do  so 
except  outside  of  the  city  and  its  suburbs;  thus 
making  a  sort  of  first  trial  of  their  skill  or  their 
clumsiness  in  anima  vili;  whence  the  custom,  the 
knowledge  of  which  has  been  preserved  by  the  histo- 
rians of  the  University  of  Montpellier,  that  when  the 
promotions  to  the  baccalaureate  were  made,  each  new 
bachelor  in  medicine  was  received  by  his  comrades 
with  blows,  and  cries  of  "  Vade  et  occide,  Cain  !  " 

Was  there  in  the  Middle  Ages,  in  addition  to  a 
very  insufficient  theoretical  instruction  based  on  the 
hypotheses  of  ancient  medicine,  a  practical  instruc- 
tion such  as  presupposes  either  anatomical  study  of  the 
cadaver,  or  clinical  lessons  given  in  hospitals  beside 
the  beds  of  the  sick  ?  Given  the  intellectual  habits 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  we  shall  not  be  surprised  to  find 
that  in  this  respect  medical  apprenticeship  was  ex- 
tremely incomplete.     It  appears  that  the  only  custom 

1  Fournier,  t.  ii,  p.  67.  "^  Crevier,  t.  ii,  p.  52. 


THE  FACULTIES  OP  MEDICINE  255 

akin  to  what  we  nowadays  call  the  clinic,  was  the 
term  of  probation  imposed  at  Salerno  and  other  schools 
on  young  doctors  who  had  taken  their  degrees,  but 
were  forbidden  to  practise  their  art  for  one  or  two 
years  except  under  the  surveillance  and  tutelage  of 
an  experienced  physician.*  As  to  anatomy,  it  was 
still  in  its  infancy.'  A  dissection  was  a  rare  event. 
At  Montpellier,  the  statutes  of  1340  provide  that  there 
shall  be  a  dissection  once  every  two  years.'  In  1396 
the  letters  patent  of  King  Charles  VI  ordained  that 
there  should  be  delivered  every  year  to  the  faculty 
of  medicine,  for  purposes  of  anatomical  study,  the 
cadaver  of  a  criminal,  "  of  either  sex  or  of  any  class, 
hanged,  drowned,  or  slain  in  any  other  manner  after 
legal  condemnation."  *  The  corpse  of  the  criminal, 
after  dissection,  was  buried  with  all  the  rites  and  cere- 
monies of  religion. 

It  was  not  in  Moli^re's  time  only  that  dissections 
became  a  real  spectacle,  to  which  even  ladies  thronged 
as  to  a  festival.*  At  Montpellier  the  spectators  usually 
included  not  merely  the  students,  but  a  great  number 
of  curious  persons,  citizens,  nobles,  and  even  women, 
although  it  might  be  the  cadaver  of  a  man  that  was 
to  be  dissected.     Many  monks  went  likewise.     The 

1  At  Paris,  before  presenting  himself  for  the  license,  a  bachelor 
must  have  practised  medicine  during  two  summers  under  the  guid- 
ance of  a  master  regent. 

2  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  Arabs,  whose  labors,  as  we 
have  seen,  had  so  great  an  influence  upon  European  medicine,  for- 
bade the  study  of  anatomy  through  religious  scruples. 

•  Those  of  the  Faculty  of  Paris  for  IGOO  say  there  shall  be  two 
anatomical  stances  each  year.  *  Fournier,  t.  ii,  p.  162. 

B  See  Moliere,  Le  Sfalade  Imaginaire. 


256  ABELARD 

dissection  was  presided  over  by  a  professor;  tlie  scalpel 
was  handled  by  a  barber,  the  surgeon  of  those  days. 
The  cost  of  the  operation  was  defrayed  by  the  stu- 
dents.^ 

Even  in  the  sixteenth  century,  dissections  seldom 
took  place  more  than  once  a  year.  And  yet  the 
following  anecdote,  related  by  Platter,  proves  that 
the  students  were  desirous  of  instruction,  and,  know- 
ing the  value  of  researches  made  on  the  human  body, 
asked  nothing  better  than  to  be  put  in  the  presence 
of  cadavers:^  "We  went,"  he  says,  "to  disinter 
secretly,  in  adjacent  cemeteries,  the  dead  who  had 
been  buried  the  same  day.  .  .  .  My  first  expedition 
of  the  sort  occurred  on  December  11,  1554.  ...  At 
midnight,  well  armed,  and  observing  the  most  pro- 
found silence,  we  repaired  to  the  cemetery  of  St. 
Denis  ;  we  disinterred  a  body,  employing  nothing  but 
our  hands,  because  the  earth  had  not  had  time  enough 
yet  to  harden.  Then  we  drew  out  the  corpse  by 
means  of  a  cord,  wrapped  it  in  our  mantles,  and 
carried  it  on  two  sticks  to  the  entrance  of  the  city. 
There  we  rapped  on  the  wicket ;  an  old  porter  pre- 
sented himself,  and  opened  it;  we  asked  for  some- 
thing to  drink,  and  while  he  went  for  wine,  three  of 
us  brought  in  the  corjDse,  and  carried  it  to  the  neigh- 
boring house  of  one  of  our  comrades.  Afterwards  the 
monks  of  St.  Denis  were  obliged  to  guard  their  ceme- 
tery, and  they  shot  arrows  from  their  windows  at  the 
students  who  came  there." 

What  clearly  demonstrates  the  state  of  inferiority 

1  Platter,  in  liis  account  of  bis  stay  at  Montpellier,  quoted  by 
Valabregue,  op.  cit.,  p.  24.  2  Zbid.,  p.  25. 


THE    FACULTIES   OF   MEDICINE  257 

in  which  the  practical  study  of  medicine  remained 
throughout  the  Middle  Ages,  is  the  disdain  expressed 
for  surgery,  which  was  considered  a  mean  handicraft, 
and  abandoned  to  barbers.  In  1600,  at  the  time  of 
the  reform  of  the  University  of  Paris  by  Henry  TV, 
surgeons  were  still  excluded  from  the  degrees  of  the 
Faculty  of  Medicine,  or  were  admitted  to  them  only 
on  swearing  that  they  would  not  practise  surgery 
thereafter. 

Actual  study,  then,  was  restricted  within  the  nar- 
rowest limits  in  the  Faculties  of  Medicine.  Even  at 
Paris,  after  several  centuries  of  development,  there 
was  in  1600  only  one  professor  to  teach  both  anatomy 
and  botany.'  The  Faculty  of  Medicine  which,  by 
the  very  nature  of  its  studies  should  have  avoided 
and  withdrawn  completely  from  the  dialectical  fury 
and  mania  for  discussion  which  were  the  great  curse 
of  mediaeval  instruction,  was  attacked  by  the  same 
malady  as  the  other  Faculties.  Thurot  says:  "It 
attached  much  more  importance  to  disputations  than 
to  lessons."  ^     The  ordinary  disputations  took   place 

1  "  As  our  city,"  said  a  physician  of  Montpellier,  "  was  the  first 
where  public  demonstrations  in  anatomy  were  given,  so  it  has  been 
the  first  to  givB  public  lessons  in  botany,  and  to  possess  a  royal 
garden  of  medicinal  plants"  (Astruc  —  Memoires,  p.  67).  The 
Montpellier  Garden  of  Plants  was  not  organized  until  15i)3,  after 
those  of  Pisa  (1546),  Leyden  (1577),  and  Leipsic  (1579). 

2  Thurot,  op.  cit.,  p.  197.  The  lessons  were  greatly  neglected, 
neither  masters  nor  students  forcing  themselves  to  pursue  them 
regularly.  "  The  statutes  of  1660  limit  themselves  to  saying :  "  Stu- 
dents shall  frequently  be  present  at  the  public  lessons."  One 
Faculty  of  Medicine,  that  of  Poitiers,  during  several  centuries  con- 
fined itself  to  conferring  degrees,  without  giving  any  instruction 
whatever. 


268  ABELARD 

every  Monday  and  Tuesday  from  All  Saints'  Day 
until  Lent ;  that  is,  during  three  or  four  months.  In 
addition  to  these,  there  was  one  disputation  more 
formal  than  the  others,  called  quodlibitaire,  because 
it  might  relate  indifferently  to  any  subject ;  and  each 
master  was  obliged  to  take  part  in  it  in  his  turn, 
under  penalty  of  deposition.  The  supreme  end  to  be 
attained  was  not  the  acquirement  of  positive  knowl- 
edge, but  skill  in  dialectic.  The  idea  that  man  is 
made  to  reason,  to  be  a  perpetual  dialectician,  even 
in  medicine,  dominated  the  human  mind ;  and  people 
seemed  to  think  that  syllogisms  were  good  for  every- 
thing, even  disease ! 

Such  a  programme  of  studies  could  hardly  form  any 
but  jnediocre  practitioners.  Doubtless  there  were  ex- 
ceptions ;  and  I  would  not  say  tbat  all  physicians  of 
the  Middle  Ages  deserved  the  raillery  and  insults 
lavished  on  them  by  Petrarch  in  the  pamphlet  en- 
titled, Invectives  against  a  Physician.  Nevertheless, 
it  is  probable  there  was  some  truth  in  the  unfavor- 
able portrait  of  the  doctors  of  his  day,  drawn  by 
the  same  Petrarch,  in  a  letter  to  Boccaccio,  wherein 
he  reproached  them,  not  merely  with  their  noisy 
charlatanism,  but  the  deadly  effects  of  their  inca- 
pacity. "They  never  appear  in  public,"  says  he, 
"without  being  superbly  dressed,  mounted  on  mag- 
nificent horses,  and  wearing  golden  spurs !  .  .  .  Next 
thing  you  know,"  he  adds,  mingling  hyperbole  with 
his  irony,  "they  will  arrogate  the  honors  of  a  tri- 
umph !  And,  in  fact,  they  deserve  it ;  for  there  is 
not  one  among  them  who  has  not  killed  at  least  five 


THE   FACULTIES   OF   MEDICINE  259 

thousand  men,  and  that  is  the  required  number  to 
entitle  one  to  those  honors  ! "  ^ 

There  is,  of  course,  no  more  reason  for  taking  these 
declamatory  exaggerations  of  Petrarch  literally,  than 
there  would  be  for  subscribing  to  all  the  jests  of 
Moli^re  against  the  Diafoirus  and  the  Purgons  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  It  would  be  especially  un- 
just to  hold  responsible  for  the  universal  errors,  of 
which  they  wei"e  themselves  victims,  those  men  of 
the  Middle  Ages  who  devoted  themselves  to  the  art 
of  healing  their  fellows,  so  far  as  they  were  able  to 
acquire  it.  It  was  not  their  fault  if  the  general  system 
of  study  rendered  them  more  apt  at  distinguishing 
the  premises  and  consequences  of  a  train  of  reason- 
ing than  in  diagnosing  disease ;  more  skilful  in  man- 
aging an  argument  than  handling  the  scalpel  and  the 
bistoury.  To  be  just,  we  must  take  into  consideration 
the  fact  that  the  profession  of  medicine,  difficult  and 
dangerous  at  all  times,  was  especially  so  at  a  time 
when  hygiene  was  a  thing  almost  unknown,  and  epi- 
demics raged  with  violence.  One  is  glad  to  recall,  as 
one  instance,  that  at  the  time  of  the  plague  of  1533 
at  Montpellier  the  doctors  of  that  city  did  their  duty 
bravely,  and  paid  a  heavy  tribute  to  death  by  expos- 
ing themselves  to  contagion. 

^  Quoted  by  Renan,  Averroes,  p.  262. 


Part  IV 

GENERAL  SPIRIT  AND  INFLUENCE   OF 
THE  EARLY  UNIVERSITIES 


CHAPTER  I 

MANNERS  AND  HABITS  OF  STUDENTS   AND  TEACHERS 

I.  Admiration  excited  among  contemporaries  —  Testimony  of 
John  of  Salisbury  and  Petrarch  —  Habits  of  the  Students  —  Eager- 
ness for  study — ^Privations  endured  —  Relations  between  stu- 
dents and  masters  —  Student  guilds  and  associations  —  Mutual 
assistance  —  Tendency  towards  equality  —  II.  Frequency  of 
disorder  in  the  university  associations  —  Quarrels  between  stu- 
dents—  With  masters  —  With  citizens — Turbulent  and  bluster- 
ing humor  —  Examples  of  riots  —  Licentiousness  of  the  scholastic 
life  —  Lack  of  elegance  and  even  of  cleanliness  —  Ascetic  rules 

—  An  oppressive  system  finally  substituted  for  the  original  liberty 

—  Discipline  of  the  rod  —  III.  The  masters  —  Habits  of  pedan- 
try—  Some  irregularities  of  conduct  —  Teachers  too  dependent 
on  students  —  Appointed  and  chosen  by  them  —  Salaries  of  the 
masters  —  Their  poverty  —  Consequences  of  this — Celibacy. 

Before  leaving  the  universities  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
we  must  take  a  last  glance  at  the  internal  life  of 
these  assemblages  of  students  and  masters  which,  in 
certain  cities,  had  acquired  proportions  so  consider- 
able. What  were  their  manners  and  customs,  their 
qualities  and  defects  ?  What  was  their  general  spirit? 
How  was  their  influence  shown  in  their  prosperous 
days  before  they  dwindled  into  feeble  institutions 
from  which  life  gradually  departed,  leaving  the  move- 
ment of  thought  to  slip  insensibly  out  of  their  hands 
in  order  to  renew  itself  beyond  them ;  until,  reaching 
their  last  stage  of  decay,  they  were  destined  either 

263 


264  ABELARD 

to  disappear  or  be  transformed,  that  they  might  be 
born  anew  under  the  same  title,  but  in  forms  and 
conditions  more  conformable  to  the  requirements  of 
the  modern  spirit  ? 


The  first  thing  to  be  noted  is  the  enthusiastic 
admiration  aroused  in  those  who  visited  them  or  who 
studied  there,  by  these  learned  cities,  these  "Latin 
quarters,"  where  nothing  was  taught  or  spoken  save 
in  Latin,  and  which  were  scattered  here  and  there 
amidst  the  uncultivated  and  barbarous  society  of  the 
Middle  Ages  like  oases  in  a  desert.  Nothing  proves 
more  conclusively  how  well  the  old  universities,  in 
spite  of  their  admitted  faults,  responded  to  the  aspi- 
^jutions  and  necessities  of  their  times.  Here,  for 
example,  is  John  of  Salisbury,  in  1167,  saluting 
France  with  veneration  as  the  most  hospitable,  the 
most  civilized  of  Nations  (omnium  mitisshna  et  civilis- 
sima  nationum).  "I  saw  at  Paris,"  he  says,  "abun- 
dance of  life,  popular  joy,  life  respected,  a  crowd 
of  philosophers  absorbed  in  various  occupations.  I 
seemed  to  behold  Jacob's  ladder,  with  the  angels 
ascending  and  descending  on  it."  ^  And  here  is 
Petrarch,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  recalling  in  his 
old  age,  the  delightful  memories  which  Montpellier 
had  impressed  upon  his  youth:  "On  passing  out  of 
childhood,  I  spent  four  years  at  Montpellier,  at 
that  time  a  very  flourishing  city.  What  tranquillity 
reigned  there  !    What  peace !    What  riches  were  pos- 

1  Chartulariuni  Univ.  Paris.,  t.  i,  p.  17. 


STUDENTS  AND  TEACHERS 

sessed  by  the  merchants !     What  a  crowd  of  stu- 
dents !    What  an  abundance  of  masters."  ^ 

As    Savigny   has   very   justly   remarked,   the   uni- 
versities   of   the   Middle    Ages    owed   their  special 
importance  to  the  fact  of  their  taking  a  much  more 
considerable  share  in  education  than  is  done  by  the 
universities  of  our  own  day.     "  They  had  not  to  dread^ 
the  competition  of  the  gymnasia,  or  the  multitude  of 
books  now  published  everywhere.    Moreover,  the  scho- 
lastic period  was  much  longer  and  the  students  often 
of  riper  years.     Bishops  were  sometimes  seen  attend-     y^ 
ing  the   courses,  their  rank,  functions,  and  dignity 
lending  an  eclat  to  the  university  of  which  they  are 
now  deprived."  ^    The  universities  were  not  merely,  [     .t 
as  at  present,  schools  of  higher  education  crowning  y    ^ 
a  system   of   pedagogic   institutions ;   they   were  the 
only  schools,  the  only  places  in  the  world,  where  men  I 
could  study  or  exercise  their  minds   with  a  certain  i 
degree  of   freedom.     With   what   joyful  enthusiasm^] 
must  young  men,  eager  for  instruction,  and  glad  of 
an  opportunity  to  acquire  learning  withovit  immuring 
themselves  in  monasteries  or  submitting  to  the  clois- 
tral yoke,  have  hastened  toward  renowned  masters 
whose   reputation    had    penetrated    even   to   distant 
lands!      Then    again    in   an   age   disturbed    by    con- 
tinual  wars   and   unprovided  with  a  regular   police, 
what  good   fortxuie  it  must  have  seemed,  to  find  in 
large  and  well-provided   cities,  under  the   protection 
and  safeguard  of  public  authorities,  safe  places,  asy- 
lums  as    it  were,  where    studies    might   be    pursued_ 

1  Petraroli,  Ror.  Son..  Lib.  x,  Epist.  2. 

2  Savigny,  op.  cit.,  chap,  xxi,  §58. 


206  ABELAKD 

/  unmolested,  and  where,  thanks  to  innumerable  privi- 

(leges,  they  were  honored  and  respected. 

In  such  a  time  as  ours,  when  so  many  facilities  are 
offered  to  all  who  desire  to  study,  and  when,  so  far 
as  instruction  goes,  the  supply  certainly  outruns  the 
demand,  it  is  not  easy  to  form  an  adequate  notion  of 
the  spontaneity  and  ardent  zeal  for  study  which  ani- 
mated the  thousands  of  young  men  who  formed  the 
audiences  at  the  mediaeval  universities.  At  present, 
it  is  most  frequently  the  social  condition  of  young 
men,  their  birth  and  fortune,  which  destines  them, 
and  often  without  any  strong  bent,  and  invitd  Min- 
efvd,  to  pursue  the  courses  of  superior  instruction.  In 
the  Middle  Ages  the  students  were  all  volunteers  of 
science:  none  frequented  the  universities  but  those 
who  had  a  particular  aptitude  and  a  personal  taste  for 
study ;  and,  like  all  volunteers,  they  brought  an  extraor- 
dinary zeal  and  enthusiasm  to  their  tasks.  Great  was 
the  number  of  those  who,  destitute  of  all  resources, 
joyfully  braved  privation,  poverty,  and  the  irksome- 

Iness  of  menial  service,  in  order  that  they  might  pene- 

(trate  at  last  into  the  sanctuary  of  knowledge.  " The 
University  of  Paris  was  poor,"  says  Crevier.^  The 
majority  of  the  students  were  so  likewise.''  "Many  of 
them,"  says  Thurot,  "  begged  their  bread.  They  found 
this  no  humiliation.  The  example  of  the  mendicant 
orders,  and  especially  of  the  Franciscans,  had  rendered 
mendicancy  respectable.  The  bursars  of  the  college  of 
Laon  distributed  their  leavings  to  poor  scholars  of 

1  Crevier,  t.  vii,  p.  152. 

2  "There  were  nobles  there,  and  there  were  plebeians;  there 
were  no  rich  men  "  (Lecoy  de  la  Marche,  op.  cit.,  p.  4G1). 


STUDENTS  AND  TEACHERS  267 

tlieir  own  Nation.  Masters  gave  their  old  clothes  and 
shoes  to  their  students.  To  gain  the  wherewithal  to 
live,  scholars  copied  books,  swept,  became  scavengers. 
They  often  entered  the  service  of  a  college,  a  wealthy 
student,  or  a  professor."  ^  If,  with  such  a  disposition, 
such  a  passion  to  learn,  cost  what  it  might,  the  stu- 
dents of  mediaeval  universities  produced  nothing  mar- 
vellous, the  fault  lay  not  with  their  diligence  and 
good  will,  but  with  their  narrow  limitations  and 
sterile  methods  of  the  instruction  given  them. 

Moreover,  the  desire  to  come  in  contact  with  what 
were  then  the  only  sources  of  knowledge  was  not  all 
that  drew  them  to  the  universities.  There  were  also 
the  advantages  of  every  sort  guaranteed  to  them  by 
the  university  privileges ;  and,  above  all,  the  inti- 
mate, affectionate  relations  which  bound  them  to  their 
masters  and  their  comrades  in  these  corporations  and 
scholastic  societies  which  were  like  so  many  families. 

"The  relations  that  existed  between  professors 
and  students,"  says  Savigny,  "were  then  closer  and 
more  lasting  than  in  our  days.^  Each  student,  on 
arriving  at  the  university,  became  not  simply  a 
new  number  inscribed  on  the  register  of  matricula- 
tion; he  was  thenceforward  the  pupil,  the  client  of 
such  or  such  a  professor,  who  not  only  heard  his  les- 
sons but  became  his  patron,  took  him  under  his 
guardianship,  and  laid  claim  to  him  in  case  some 
prank  had  led  the  magistrates  to  put  him  into 
prison."  ^    In  the  Faculties  of  Art  more  especially,  on 

1  Thurot,  op.  cit.,  p.  39.  *  Savigny,  op.  cit.,  chap,  xxi,  §  97. 

8 "In  the  Italian  Universities,"  says  Coppi  {op.  cit.,  p.  288), 
"pupils  and  professors  formed  as  it  were  one  large  family,  because 


268  ABELARD 

account  of  the  slight  differences  of  age  existing  be- 
tween licentiates  of  twenty-one,  bachelors  of  fourteen, 
and  pupils  between  ten  and  thirteen,  a  real  intimacy 
and  comradeship  was  established  between  masters  and 
students.      "  Students  and  masters  belonging  to  the 
same  Nation,"  says  Thurot,  "  lodged  most  frequently 
in  the  same  hotel,  and  often  ate  at  the  same  table.  .  .  . 
The  masters  frolicked  with  the  pupils  and  even  took 
part  in  their   disorder."     The   scholastic  community 
as  it  is  founfi  in  the  colleges  of  the  fifteenth  century 
was  already  in  existence,  but  with  the  addition  of 
/  liberty.    All  there  was  of  good  in  monastic  rules,  the 
I    common  life  of  convents,  the  constant  contact  between 
I    many  minds  devoted  to  the  same  work  and  pursu- 
ing the  same  end,  all  the  advantages  pertaining  to 
intellectual  association,  were  to  be  found  in  the  uni- 
\    versity,  itself  a  convent  after  its  own  fashion,  but  a 
[convent  enfranchised  and  restored  to  liberty. 

The  special  character  belonging  to  the  universities 
of  the  Middle  Ages  is  also  displayed  in  the  relations 
existing  between  the  students.  The  young  men  did 
not  then  content  themselves,  as  now,  with  meeting 
each  other  two  or  three  times  a  day  in  the  same  classes, 
for  the  sake  of  listening  to  the  lectures  of  the  same 
professors.  They  lived  the  same  life.  "  United  by 
profession,"  said  some  one,  "  they  could  not  be  dis- 
united by  sentiment."  They  formed  associations 
which  amounted  to  mutual  benefit  societies.  At 
Montpellier  and  elsewhere  the  corporation  relieved 
poor  students  from  the  payment  of  the  sums  owed  by 

they  sought  the  same  goal  and  were  united  by  the  same  love  ol  . 
science  and  the  same  habits  of  life." 


STUDENTS  AND  TEACHERS        269 

them  to  the  University  treasury.  The  exemption, 
however,  was  only  accorded  under  condition  that  the 
same  should  be  afterwards  repaid  if  the  student  be- 
came rich.  If  a  student  could  not  provide  for  all  his 
needs,  could  not  pay  his  barber,  for  example,  some  one 
came  to  his  assistance.  On  days  of  festivity  and  ban- 
quetings,  sick  comrades  who  could  not  be  present  were 
not  forgotten.  At  Montpellier,  "  partridges,  pigeons, 
and  Muscat  wine "  were  sent  to  their  lodgings,  —  a 
bad  way  to  cure  them,  perhaps,  but  certainly  a  touch- 
ing mark  of  companionship.  The  entire  corporation 
was  bound  to  be  present  at  the  funeral  of  any  of  its 
members,  and  those  who  dispensed  themselves  from 
this  obligation  without  a  legitimate  excuse  were 
fined.*  ' 

The  students'  associations  were,  then,  true  schools 
of  social  solidarity,  wherein  the  young  learned  their 
duties  as  men.  They  practised  mutual  help,  and  were 
early  penetrated,  if  not  by  the  national  and  |)atriotic 
sentiment,  —  which  had  as  yet  shown  itself  but  dimly, 
and  under  its  worst  aspects,  the  hatred  between  races 
continuing  in  the,  quarrels  and  rivalries  between  the 
Nations,  —  at  least  by  a  certain  esprit  de  corps,  testified 
to  by  the  solemn  oaths  taken  by  the  students,  them  to 
serve  and  defend  the  interests  of  the  university,  and 
maintain  its  good  repute  during  and  after  their  studies. 

Another  praiseworthy  thing  about  the  spirit  of  th'e 
mediaeval  universities  was  their  tendency  to  establish 

lAt  Montpellier  when  any  member  of  the  university  died, 
whether  professor  or  student,  lessons  were  suspended,  so  that  every- 
body might  be  present  at  the  funeral.  If  the  deceased  were  poor,  the 
university  paid  for  his  obsequies. 


270  ABELARD 

equality  between  all  their  students,  no  matter  what 
might  be  their  birth  or  condition.  Equality  before\ 
the  law  and  in  civil  society  had  not  yet  been  reached ; 
but  in  the  university  societies  a  sensible  approach  to } 
equality  in  studies  and  degrees  had  been  attained. 
Thence  came  the  efforts  made,  both  in  Italy  and  France, 
to  oblige  all  students  to  wear  the  same  costume.  The 
statutes  of  the  University  of  Florence  decreed  that 
every  one,  barons,  dukes,  bishops,  and  cardinals,  as 
well  as  the  humblest  students,  should  wear  a  uniform 
vestment."  ^  "  In  the  University  of  Paris,  no  distinc- 
tion existed  between  rich  and  poor,  between  nobles 
and  commoners.  ...  In  1311,  Clement  V  put  a  check 
on  the  prodigalities  of  newly  made  doctors,  whose 
admission  was  celebrated  by  illuminations  and  ban- 
quets, by  pointing  out  that  these  inordinate  expenses 
were  discouraging  and  ruinous  to  poor  students."  ^ 

Still,  it  would  be  contrary  to  truth  to  suppose  that 
these  attempts  at  equality  were  everywhere  crowned 
with  success.  In  many  places  the  privileges  of  the 
nobility  were  extended  even  to  the  common  life  of 
the  universities.  At  Dole  the  students  were  divided 
into  two  classes :  nobles  and  commoners.  The  nobles 
formed  a  caste  apart,  and  enjoyed  certain  favors :  an 
insult  offered  one  of  them  cost  the  insulter  five  francs, 
while  to  insult  a  commoner  cost  but  one  franc.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  nobles  were  bound  by  special 
obligations :  for  example,  they  must  have  two  valets 
in  their  service  who  were  to  follow  them  everywhere 

1.  .  .  "  etiam  si  esSet  Dux,  Princeps,  vel  Baro,  .  .  .  etiamsiesset 
Cardinalis,  vel  Episcopus,  vel  alia  dif;iiitate  fulgens  (Coppi,  op.  cit., 
p.  118)."  2  Henri  Beaune,  oj).  cit.,  p.  xxxii. 


STUDENTS  AND  TEACHERS  271 

and  carry  their  books  to  class.  At  Bologna,  noble 
students  had  a  right  to  occupy  the  first  benches  in 
class.  But  special  charges  corresponded  to  these  privi- 
leges ;  they  paid  two  francs  to  the  beadles,  while  the 
other  students  paid  only  four  sous. 

II 

Nor  must  we  imagine  these  societies  of  students, 
above  all  in  the  earliest  times,  as  peaceable,  perfectly 
well-regulated  societies  in  which  an  admirable  order 
prevailed.  As  far  as  scholastic  manners  are  concerned, 
the  Middle  Ages  present  two  different  sides :  that  of 
extreme  license  at  first,  and  then  toward  the  end, 
when  the  scholars  had  for  the  most  part  been  shut 
up  in  colleges  and  boarding-schools,  that  of  oppressive  i 
discipline.  .„,^/ 

Peace  did  not  always  reign  in  the  collegiate  cities ; 
dissensions  were  frequent,  and  also  violent  quarrels, 
followed  usually  it  is  true,  by  solemn  reconciliations 
which  ended  in  new  banquets.  Sometimes  they  arose" 
between  the  students,  sometimes  between  students 
and  citizens,  and  sometimes  even  between  the  scholars 
and  the  masters.     Let  me  cite  some  examples. 

Discord  often  })revailed  between  the  Faculties.  At 
Montpellier,  for  instance,  the  legists,  or  law  students, 
were  frequently  at  variance  with  the  medical  students ; 
perpetual  quips,  a  war  of  pleasantries  went  on  be- 
tween, sometimes  ending  in  a  resort  to  arms.^     Up 

1  It  must  be  added,  however,  that  these  incessant  divisions  may 
have  proceeded  partly  from  the  fact  that  there  were  two  univer- 
sities in  that  city,  the  University  of  Law  and  the  University  of 
Medicine. 


272  ABELARD 

to  the  sixteenth  century  we  find  in  the  Liber  Procuror 
toris  several  mentions  of  expenditures  for  weapons 
made  in  advance  by  medical  students,  in  order  to  put 
down  by  force  any  legists  who  might  try  to  assume  the 
privilege  of  ridiculing  them.^ 

The  professors  were  not  always  respected.  Thus, 
at  Poitiers,  in  1517,  the  Gascon  students,  sword  in 
hand  (although  they  were  forbidden  to  carry  weapons), 
besieged  in  his  chair  the  professor  of  law,  Longueil, 
who  could  only  defend  himself  by  flinging  at  their 
heads  the  enormous  volumes  of  the  Digest  which  were 
the  subject  of  his  lessons. 

"^ut  it  was  above  all  with  the  inhabitants  of  the 
cities  where  the  universities  were  situated  that  the 
students  had  frequent  quarrels.     Though  they  were 

^Tsource  of  honor  and  revenue  to  the  cities  in  which 
they  were  established,  the  universities  were  sometimes 
viewed  with  suspicious  eyes  by  the  citizens,  either  on 
account  of  the  privileges  granted  to  their  members, 
or  because  of  the  great  number  of  foreigners  included 
among  their  pupils.  Moreover,  by  tlieir  turbulence 
and   arrogance,  the    students   frequently  excited  the 

^-aj^tipathy,  and  even  the  hostility,  of  the  population. 
Thus,  in  1494,  at  Montpellier,  the  inhabitants  sacked 
the  ColMge  des  Douze  MMecins. 

No  one  need  be  surprised  at  finding  in  tlie  youth  of 
the  Middle  Ages  the  faults  common  to  youth  in  every 
age.  "  The  student  of  the  University  of  Paris,"  says 
M.  Lecoy  de  la  Marche,  "  was  not  always  the  serious 

1  Duels  between  students  were  all  the  fashion,  as  they  still  are 
in  German  universities;  it  was  for  that  reason  they  were  forbidden 
to  carry  arms. 


STUDENTS  AND  TEACHERS  273 

young  person,  full  of  zeal  for  his  tasks,  bending  over 
glossaries  of  the  Bible  or  of  Aristotle.  He  was  also, 
and  perhaps  one  ought  to  say  that  he  was  chiefly,  the 
impudent  roisterer  who  '  runs  all  night,  fully  armed, 
through  the  streets  of  the  capital,  breaks  open  house 
doors  to  commit  outrages,  and  fills  the  tribunals  with 
the  noise  of  his  escapades.  Every  day,'  adds  Eobert 
de  Sorbon,  '  meretriculce  came  to  depose  against  him, 
complaining  of  having  been  struck,  of  having  their 
clothes  torn  to  pieces  and  their  hair  cut  off.'  His 
quarrels  with  the  powerful  corporation  of  the  citizens 
of  Paris  are  incessant.  The  Pr^-aux-clercs,  where  one 
may  see  the  grave  students  walking  with  a  book  in 
their  hands,  meditating  or  argumenting  in  the  lan- 
guage of  clerics  (prout  inter  bonos  scJiolares  est  Jieri 
consuetum) ,  is  also  the  theatre  of  tumultuous  scenes."  * 
The  rude  manners  of  the  Middle  Ages,  perhaps,  too, 
the  scarcity  of  amusements,  the  absence  of  distractions 
which  Kabelais,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  struggled 
against  in  the  students  of  Poitiers,  who  "  knew  not," 
said  he,  "how  to  pass  the  time  " ;  and  still  other  causes, 
such  as  the  relatively  advanced  age  of  many  of  the 
students,  the  isolation  which  made  them  independent, 
the  remoteness  of  their  families,^ — all  this  contributed 
to  develop  the  tendency  to  disorder,  the  turbulent 
humor  natural  to  youth,  the  quarrelsome  disposition 
which  often  displayed  itself  in  actual  riots.  The 
students  of  Paris  always  had  a  bone  to  pick  with  the 

1  Lecoy  de  la  Marche,  op.  cit.,  p.  460. 

2  One  special  cause  of  disorder  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that 
students  remained  at  the  university  seat  even  during  vacations,  on 
account  of  the  distances  from  their  homes  and  the  difficulties  of 
travelling. 


tn  .  ABELARD 

police,  and  it  was  with  the  most  sincere  determination 
to  keep  their  word  that  they  hurled  this  defiance  at 
whoever  provoked  them  :  "Come  to  the  Clos-Bruneau ! 
You'll  find  some  one  there  to  talk  to ! "  Nor  must 
it  be  forgotten  that  the  entire  university,  as  guardian 
of  each  of  its  members,  often  took  sides  openly  with 
the  most  culpable  of  its  students,  and  encouraged  them 
in  their  resistance  to  the  authorities  and  magistrates.^ 
At  Dole,  in  1429,  six  years  after  the  founding  of  the 
university,  the  students  fell  into  all  manner  of  excesses 
and  organized  a  sort  of  riot.  The  bailiff  ran  to  re- 
establish order.  He  was  badly  beaten  and  obliged  to 
flee.  In  1442,  the  university  itself  caused  the  provost 
to  be  imprisoned.  He  was  set  at  liberty  by  order  of  the 
bailiff  of  Dijon,  who  imprisoned,  in  his  turn,  the  rector 
of  D6le.  In  1446,  the  students  made  common  cause 
with  the  inhabitants  of  one  village  against  those  of 
another,  and  gave  actual  battle  to  their  adversaries. 
A  hundred  years  later,  in  1563,  a  quarrel  broke  out 
between  two  students  in  the  lecture-room  of  the  course 
of  civil  law.  One  of  the  two  received  a  sword  wound ; 
he  summoned  his  adversary  before  the  rector,  who  let 
him  oft'  with  a  reprimand.  In  1577,  a  murderer  was 
acquitted.  In  1605,  a  scholar  insulted  some  children, 
and  was  put  in  prison ;  his  comrades  retaliated  by  in- 
carcerating the  sergeant  who  had  arrested  him.  The 
tocsin  sounded ;  the  citizens  armed  and  came  into  the 
street,  and  fighting  was  about  to  begin,  when  Parlia- 
ment ordered  the  aldermen  to  set  the  scholar  at 
liberty.^ 

1  "  The  audacity  and  insolence  of  the  students  were  all  the  greater 
because  they  felt  themselves  supported  by  the  university."  Beaune, 
op.  cit.,  p.  Ixxxviii.  '^  Beaune,  op.  cit.,  passim. 


STUDENTS  AND  TEACHERS        275 

The  scholastic  world  of  the  Middle  Ages,  theii,' 
was  the  scene  of  constant  troubles  and  agitations,  a 
continual  ebullition  of  juvenile  passions.^  More  than 
once  violent  scenes  occurred  which  entailed  terrible 
reprisals  on  the  students.  Thus  at  Montpellier,  re- 
lates Jourdain,  the  students  made  a  disturbance  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  law  school,  and  wounded  several 
persons.  "  A  great  uproar  ensued.  The  citizens  of 
Montpellier,  who  had  never  liked  the  students  over- 
much, determined  upon  vengeance.  The  next  day, 
when  the  bell  rang,  they  lay  in  wait  for  the  rioters  as 
they  came  out  of  school,  and  hemmed  them  into  a 
street  so  narrow  that  not  one  of  them  could  escape. 
In  order  to  distinguish  their  own  countrymen  from  the 
foreigners,  against  whom  they  had  a  special  grudge, 
they  obliged  each  of  them  to  say  in  their  local  idiom : 
'  God  give  you  good  night,  Dieu  vous  donne  bona  nioch, 
(bonne  nuit).  As  the  strangers  were  not  able  to  pro- 
nounce the  last  two  words  of  this  evening  salutation 
correctly,  it  was  easy  to  recognize  the  foreign  rioters. 
•  Several  of  them  were  killed  and  their  bodies  cast  into 
neighboring  wells.  .  .  .  The  name  of  Rue  Bona-nioch 
continues  to  mark  the  scene  of  the  bloody  drama."  ^ 

It  was  not  in  riots  only  that  the  students  of  the 
Middle  Ages  took  delight.  Gallant  and  amorous 
adventures  played  a  certain  part  in  their  existence. 
"  The  misfortune  is,"  says  the  historian  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Angers,  "that  the  morals  of  the  students  of 

1  This  effervescence  sometimes  went  so  far  as  crime.  In  1425 
six  or  seven  law  students  of  Montpellier,  in  masks,  broke  into  a 
house  during  the  night  and  carried  off  a  young  woman.  The  uni- 
versity hindered  the  prosecution  of  these  ravishers. 

2  Germain,  op.  cit.,  p.  23* 


276  ABELARD 

that  age  (thirteenth  century)  were  very  profligate. 
They  fought  every  day  among  themselves  and  with 
the  citizens.  Yet  all  of  these  students  were  clerics, 
and  some  of  them  already  provided  with  curacies. 
But  it  was  not  easy  to  keep  this  multitude  of  young 
men,  just  at  the  most  impetuous  age,  within  the  bounds 
of  strict  discipline ;  these  were  not  children  who  were 
studying.  Assembled  from  different  countries,  they 
were  far  from  their  parents,  their  bishops,  and  their 
seigneurs.  They  had  not  the  same  respect  for  foreign 
masters,  to  whom  they  paid  a  salary,  and  who  were 
often  of  low  birth."  ^  And  Rangeard  concludes  by 
recalling,  as  applicable  to  the  scholars  of  Angers,  the 
very  unfavorable  portrait  drawn  by  Jacques  de  Vitry, 
in  the  thirteenth  century,  of  the  morals  of  Parisian 
students.  From  the  year  1218  the  ecclesiastical  judge 
of  Paris  had  been  complaining  of  the  scholars,  who, 
said  he,  force  and  break  open  the  doors  of  houses 
and  carry  off  girls  and  women."  ^  Jacques  de  Vitry 
denounced  the  debauched  morals  of  Paris  several 
years  later.  "  In  the  same  houses,"  said  he,  "  there 
are  schools  on  the  first  story  and  infamous  resorts 
below."  ^  If  one  consults  Coppi,  for  example,  he  may 
convince  himself  that  the  morals  of  the  Italian  univer- 
sities were  just  as  bad.* 

But,  in  truth,  there  was  nothing  in  these  defects 
which  was  peculiar  to  the  university  youth  of  the 

1  Pierre  Rangeard,  Histoire  de  V  University  d' Angers,  Angers, 
1868,  p.  174.  Rangeard  (1692-1786)  composed  this  interesting  mono- 
graph about  1720,  but  it  was  not  published  until  within  a  few  years. 

2  Crevier,  1. 1,  p.  331.  »  Crevier,  t.  i,  p.  358. 

*  Coppi,  op.  cit.,  c.  vii.  La  vita  scolastica  net  medio  evo. 


STUDENTS  AND  TEACHERS        277 

Middle  Ages.  Neither  was  there  in  the  practical 
jokes  played  by  the  students  on  new-comers,  bejaunes^ 
or  beginners,  as  they  were  called ;  nor  in  the  boyish 
tricks  and  jests  of  every  sort  permitted  to  itself  by  a 
cosmopolitan  youth,  at  once  serious  and  dissipated, 
fond  of  pleasure  as  well  as  of  study,  like  youth  in 
every  age;  nor,  in  fine,  in  those  habits  of  idleness 
with  which  the  scholars  were  sometimes  reproached 
by  their  contemporaries :  "  How  far  from  the  example 
left  them  by  St.  Dominic  "  (a  pupil  of  the  University 
of  Palencia),  "  who  devoted  entire  nights  to  study,  are 
these  scholars  whom  the  slightest  labor  disheartens, 
who  spend  their  time  drinking  in  taverns,  or  build- 
ing castles  in  the  air  {castella  in  Hispania),  and  who 
transform  their  class-rooms  into  dormitories  !  "  ^ 

A  more  characteristic  trait  is  the  lack  of  good 
breeding,  and  it  must  be  owned  that  the  absence,  not 
merely  of  elegance  but  of  cleanliness,  was  too  frequent 
among  the  students  of  the  Middle  Ages.  John  of 
Salisbury,  although  so  enthusiastic  about  Paris,  wrote 
a  little  poem  entitled  De  Miseriis  Scholasticoi-um,  in 
which  he  draws  a  most  uncomplimentary  portrait  of 
their  sordid  way  of  life.  Privation  and  poverty  were 
doubtless  the  prime  cause  of  this ;  but  the  prejudices 
of  mysticism  likewise  contributed  to  it.  People  still 
believed  that  solicitude  about  the  care  of  the  body 
and  the  observance  of  hygienic  rules  were  of  slight 
importance,  the  care  of  the  soul  being  all  that  was 
needful;  they  thought  it  permissible  and  even  suit- 

1  Bejaune  was  at  first  the  name  given  to  a  workman  who  was 
passing  his  apprenticeship  for  master  or  journeyman. 
'  Lecoy  de  la  Marche,  op.  cit.,  p.  163. 


278  ABELARD 

able  to  lodge  knowledge  in  a  filthy  body,  since  exter- 
nal uncleanliness  and  negligence  were  no  hindrance 
to  the  elevation  of  the  mind. 

Another  thing  peculiar  to  the  university  regulations 
of  the  Middle  Ages  is  a  certain  asceticism  which  tended 
to  prohibit  the  most  lawful  pleasures,  and  which  by 
the  excessive  restraint  it  put  upon  the  craving  for 
amusement  which  is  natural  to  youth,  provoked  vio- 
lent reactions.  See,  for  example,  what  was  forbidden 
at  Montpellier:  "Members  of  the  university  are  for- 
bidden under  penalty  of  expulsion,  to  dance  anywhere 
except  in  their  own  houses.  Forbidden,  under  the 
same  penalty,  to  play  dice  and  other  games  of  chance. 
Forbidden  to  take  part  in  the  fetes  of  Carnival  time, 
when  it  was  customary  to  throw  straw  and  other 
things  at  each  other." 

It  was  not  by  multiplying  prohibitions  of  this  kind 
that  young  men  could  be  prepared  for  the  apprentice- 
ship of  liberty;  nor  was  it  by  recommending  them, 
as  was  done  at  Paris,  to  combat  their  flighty  inclina- 
tions by  attending  sermons  and  offices,  or  those  evening 
instructions  called  collations,  which  had  been  expressly 
invented  in  order  to  keep  them  from  roaming  through 
the  streets  of  the  great  city  in  search  of  adventures. 
f~Tt  is  evident  that  the  spirit  of  the  Middle  Ages,  with 
its  tendency  to  mysticism,  its  lack  of  confidence  in 
flmman  nature,  its  universal  instinct  of  repression  and 
/constraint,  was  not  adapted  to  discover,  in  matters  of 
/  discipline,  a  just  medium  between  license  and  extreme 
l.jaeverity.  It  was  decidedly  toward  severity  that  it 
leaned  when  enclosed  colleges  and  boarding-schools 
came  to  replace  the  free  corporations  of  students  of 


STUDENTS  AND  TEACHERS  279 

earlier  days.  Then  the  rod  had  full  sway.  The  rod, 
which  was  the  favorite  mode  of  discipline  in  convents, 
became  the  great  educational  instrument  in  colleges, 
"those  jails  full  of  young  captives."  "Children 
should  be  brought  up  to  endure  severity  in  all  that 
concerns  the  body,"  said  a  general  of  the  Dominicans, 
who  fortified  his  opinion  by  the  precepts  of  St.  Ber- 
nard and  Lycurgus.  But  the  fact  that  the  whip  was 
in  constant  use,  and  for  the  slightest  faults,  is  not  the 
only  thing  that  sheds  light  on  the  rigorous  discipline 
of  the  Middle  Ages;  the  nature  of  the  faults  thus 
punished  does  the  same  thing.  The  regulations  drawn 
up  by  Gerson,  the  gentle  Gerson,  for  the  Cathedral 
School  of  Paris,  enumerate  the  chief  faults  which  the 
pupils  were  liable  to  commit,  and  which,  moreover, 
their  comrades  were  bound  to  make  known,  the  giving 
of  secret  information  being  then  encouraged  as  a 
legitimate  means  of  discipline.^  Here  is  the  list: 
"Speaking  French,''  lying,  giving  the  lie,  insulting, 
striking,  doing  or  saying  immodest  things,  rising  late, 
forgetting  to  recite  the  canonical  hours,  and  talking 
in  church." 


in 


It  is  much  more  difficult  to  form  an  idea  of  the  ordi- 
nary habits  of  professors  in  the  early  universities,  than 
of  those  of  the  students.     Autobiographies  were  not  in 

1  A  pupil  who  did  not  denounce  the  fault  of  his  comrade  was  pun- 
ished like  the  guilty  one. 

2  Even  in  1600,  pupils  were  still  forbidden,  under  severe  penalties, 
to  speak  in  their  mother  tongue. 


280  ABELARD 

fashion  in  the  Middle  Ages.  Absorbed  in  their  pro- 
fessorial duties,  the  masters  of  that  day  did  not,  as  a 
rule,  provoke  much  gossip.  They  did  not  mingle  in 
society,  and  were  brilliant  only  in  their  chairs.  "I 
have  known,"  said,  in  1444,  ^neas  Sylvius  Picco- 
lomini,  the  future  Pope  Pius  II,  "I  have  known  most 
of  the  men  of  letters  in  our  days.  They  gorge  them- 
selves with  science,  but  there  is  nothing  civil  or  pol- 
ished about  them,  and  they  understand  absolutely 
nothing  about  the  management  of  affairs,  whether 
public  or  private."  ^  Thence  proceeded  the  first  char- 
acteristic of  these  masters :  they  were  interested  ex- 
clusively, for  the  most  part,  in  instruction ;  hardly  to 
be  called  well-bred;  blindly  attached  to  their  narrow 
and  restricted  science;  self -sufficient  and  intractable, 
generally  impervious  to  new  ideas;  hostile,  in  con- 
sequence, to  all  whose  thoughts  differed  from  theirs ; 
thorny  with  syllogisms ;  and  worthy,  in  fine,  of  that 
reputation  for  pedantry  which  history  has  so  justly 
guarded  for  them. 

These  defects  had  at  least  one  compensation:  the 
dignity  of  a  life  wholly  consecrated  to  the  labor  of 
instruction.  How  many  obscure  but  honorable  exist- 
ences slipped  peacefully  away  beneath  the  shadows  of 
the  university  in  the  service  of  youth!  Nevertheless, 
there  were  frequent  errors  of  conduct.  It  must  not  be 
forgotten  that,  in  the  Faculty  of  Arts  especially,  the 

1  What  we  are  saying  here  may  seem  to  contradict  the  role  I 
shall  assign  to  the  universities  a  little  further  on  (Chapter  II),  from 
the  political  point  of  view.  Note,  however,  that  I  am  now  speaking 
of  the  professors  as  a  whole,  omitting  all  mention  of  the  brilliant 
exceptions. 


STUDENTS  AND  TEACHERS  281 

masters  were  not  much  older  than  the  scholars.^  Stu- 
dents to-day,  they  became  professors  to-morrow,  by  the 
mere  fact  of  having  attained  the  licentiate's  degree. 
Leaving  the  student  ranks  and  becoming  masters  in  a 
single  day,  they  found  some  difficulty  in  shaking  off 
the  manners  of  their  comrades  of  the  day  before.  "  The 
conduct  of  tlie  masters,"  says  Thurot,  "resembled  that 
of  the  students."  Doubtless  there  was  an  advantage 
in  that;  it  enabled  them  to  preserve  intimate  and 
familiar  relations  with  their  pupils.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  regularity  of  their  lives  suffered  from  it. 
They  continued  to  frequent  wineshops,  and  sometimes 
headed  the  scholastic  riots ;  which  is  proved  by  the  fact 
that  at  Paris,  for  example,  in  1335,  the  Nation  of 
France  admitted  that  detention  in  prison  would  be 
considered  as  a  legitimate  excuse  for  Masters  of  Arts 
to  omit  their  lectures. 

Another  characteristic  of  the  professor  of  the  Mid- 
dle Ages  is  that  he  was  too  dependent  on  the  students. 
How  was  a  man  to  make  his  authority  respected  by 
pupils  who  perhaps  had  elected  him,  and  who  at  all 
events  paid  him?  There  was  at  that  time  no  su- 
perior administration,  distinct  from  the  university, 
and  supplying  it  with  professors  of  its  own  choice. 
The  universities  recruited  themselves,  and  accordingly 
as  they  were  universities  of  students  as  at  Bologna, 
or  of  masters  as  at  Paris,  it  was  now  the  students,  and 
again  the  masters  in  the  exercise  of  their  functions,  who 

1  Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that  the  Masters  of  Arts  often  remained 
students,  after  becoming  professors,  and  followed  the  courses  of  the 
Theological  Faculty. 


282  ABELARD 

chose  the  new  professors.^  "At  Bologna,"  says  Savigny, 
"  there  were  very  soon  public  chairs,  paid  for  by  the 
city.  The  city  supplied  the  funds,  but  the  choice  of 
professors  was  left  to  the  students.  The  election  was 
for  a  year  only,  and  the  professors  were  not  often 
re-elected.  Doctors  were  nearly  always  chosen,  but 
this  was  not  an  indispensable  condition;  many  of  these 
professors  are  found  who  had  not  the  doctor's  title."  ^ 
The  masters  were,  furthermore,  dependent  on  the 
students  for  the  payment  of  their  honoraries.  "  In  the 
Faculty  of  Arts  at  Paris, "  says  Thurot,  "  these  honor- 
aries were  extremely  variable.  The  sum  was  fixed  by 
a  free  contract  between  master  and  pupil.  Toward 
1309,  those  who  gave  the  morning  instruction  (the 
professors  of  ordinary  lessons)  charged  each  pupil 
one  franc.  In  1450,  masters  demanded  a  crown  for 
the  explanation  and  repetition  of  the  books  required 
for  the  baccalaureate.^  There  were  no  general  rules 
at  Bologna.  Sometimes  a  sum  was  fixed  for  which 
the  students  as  a  body  were  held  responsible.  Some- 
times each  student  was  obliged  to  pay  a  specified 
sum. 

I  In  the  earliest  times  there  was  no  question  of  regu- 
I  lar  appointments  and  salaries  paid  from  the  public 
treasury,  except  in  the  case  of  certain  universities 
/  generously  supported  and  indorsed  by  the  heads  of 
t^the  State.     By  degrees,  however,  there  appeared,  at 

1  In  certain  universities.Toulouse  for  example,  a  mixed  system  was 
pursued.  The  professors  were  elected  there  by  the  Masters  in  Exer- 
cise, and  by  several  students  associated  witli  the  regents  as  coun- 
sellors. 

2  Savigny,  op.  cit.,  chap,  xxi,  §  83.         8  Thurot,  oj;.  cit.,  p.  61. 


STUDENTS  AND  TEACHERS  283 

least  for  a  certain  number  of  chairs,  the  custom  of 
fixed  salaries,  drawn  either  from  the  general  revenues, 
of  the  university,  the  municipal  treasury,  or  the  lib-j 
erality  of  princes.^  Thus,  at  Montpellier,  about  thef 
year  1500,  the  emoluments  of  the  professors  of  medi- 
cine amounted  to  one  hundred  livres,  those  of  the 
professors  of  law  to  fifty  livres,  while  the  professors 
of  the  Faculty  of  Arts  had  only  thirty  livres.  At 
Bologna,  where  people  were  richer,  the  salaries  of 
jurists  varied  from  fifty  to  nearly  five  hundred  livres. 

These  were  exceptions.  In  the  majority  of  "thel 
universities,  especially  in  the  Faculties  of  Arts,  pro-  \ 
fessors  continued  to  receive  the  fees  for  their  instruc- 
tion directly  from  the  pupils.  "  The  University  of  ) 
Paris,"  said  one  of  its  rectors  at  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  "finds  itself  reduced  to  the  sad 
necessity  of  demanding  a  mean  and  miserable  sum  from 
its  scholars  in  order  to  maintain  its  masters."  The 
result  of  this  dependence  on  pupils  was,  as  one  can 
imagine,  a  tendency  on  the  part  of  professors  to  dis- 
play indulgence  and  to  lower  the  requirements  for  pass- 
ing the  examinations,  so  as  neither  to  discourage  the 
students  nor  expose  themselves  to  the  loss  of  patron- 
age. In  1412,  a  rector  of  Montpellier  called  the 
doctors  of  the  Faculty  of  Law  to  order  for  their 
deplorable  laxity  in  conferring  degrees.  Poorer  uni- 
versities acquired  a   sorry  reputation   for   excessive 

1  "In  the  fourteenth  century  at  Bologna,"  says  Savigny,  "the 
majority  of  the  professors  were  already  salaried  by  the  city,  and  the 
custom  of  paying  all  of  them  was  soon  established.  Thenceforward, 
also,  the  professoriat  was  considered  as  a  public  function,  which  it 
had  not  been  before  "  {op.  cit.,  chap,  xxi,  §  8'J). 


284  ABELARD 

laxity;  the  graduates  of  the  University  of  Orange, 
for  instance,  were  nicknamed  "  Orange-flower  doctors ! 
Docteurs  d,  lajleur  d' orange!" 

/  As  a  rule,  the  universities  of  the  Middle  Ages  re- 
/mained  poor  institutions,  with  but  moderate  resources 
lat  their  disposal.  Historians  have  long  adduced,  as 
a  proof  of  the  special  opulence  of  the  College  of  Sor- 
bonne,  its  exclusive  ownership  of  fifteen  silver  forks 
and  spoons.  In  the  fourteenth  century,  the  rector 
and  masters  of  the  Paris  Faculty  of  Arts,  when  dunned 
for  the  payment  of  a  university  debt,  requested  a  delay 
in  these  terms :  *'  We,  whose  profession  it  is  to  have 
no  riches,  have  difficulty  in  finding  money  for  the  sal- 
aries of  the  procurators  and  advocates  whom  our  suits 
oblige  us  to  employ."  The  University  of  Paris,  how- 
ever, glories  in  its  poverty.  ''Opportunities  to  be- 
come opulent  have  not  been  wanting  in  its  history," 
said  one  of  its  rectors,  in  1715.  "But  it  has  remained 
disinterested;  it  knows  the  worth  of  an  honest  and 
modest  poverty."^ 

It  is  none  the  less  true  that  poverty  weighed  heavily 
on  the  individuals  who  composed  the  universities,  and 
that  the  need  of  money  explains  the  exactions  into 
which  many  and  many  a  professor  allowed  himself  to 
be  drawn.  At  Bologna  the  doctors  were  richer,  yet 
occasionally  one  finds  them  lending  money  to  their 
pupils  in  the  same  covetous  spirit,  in  order  to  augment 
their  honoraria  and  exact  all  tlie  more  because  tliey 

1  Jonrdain,  Histoire  de  V  University,  dc  Paris,  p.  330.  "  The  Uni- 
versity of  Paris,"  s.ays  Vallet  de  Virivillo,  "  notwithstanding  its 
greed  {son  esprit  Jiscnl)  and  its  exactions,  never  got  anything  for 
itself,  as  an  institution,  but  poverty. 


STUDENTS  AND  TEACHERS  286 

had  made  these  advances.  But  this  love  of  gain,  if  it 
was  perhaps  more  excusable,  was  certainly  more  keen 
and  more  developed  among  the  poor  professors  whose 
only  means  of  support  was  to  levy  on  the  students. 

Another  defect  in  the  social  status  of  the  profes- 
sors of  the  Middle  Ages  was  the  celibacy  absolutely 
imposed  on  them  by  the  regulations.  In  principle,  the 
law  of  celibacy  was  universal,  and  applied  to  all  grad- 
uates indiscriminately.  It  was  permissible  to  be  a 
layman,  but  on  condition  that  the  layman  voluntarily 
submitted  to  the  rules  of  tlie  religious  state.  Up  to 
1407,  Bachelors  in  Arts  presenting  themselves  for  the 
license  had  to  take  oath  that  they  were  not  married, 
in  order  to  obtain  this  degree.  It  was  not  until  1452 
that  the  medical  professors,  and  in  1500  tlie  legal  pro- 
fessors, attached  to  the  Faculties,  were  authorized  to 
marry .  ^  As  to  the  Masters  of  Arts,  the}'  never  obtained 
this  authorization,  not  even  in  the  eighteentli  century. 
Is  it  necessary  to  say  what  these  lay  celibates  must 
have  needed  in  order  to  become  true  educators?  With- 
out a  doubt,  the  university  teachers  of  the  Middle  Ages 
were  devoted  masters  who,  before  entering  on  their 
functions,  had  taken,  between  the  hands  of  tlieir  rec- 
tors, high-sounding  oaths  by  which  they  bound  them- 
selves to  labor  for  the  welfare  of  the  university,  to 
observe  the  statutes  and  regulations,  and  to  fulfil  all 
their  duties,  and  who,  let  us  believe,  generrJly  ke}tt 
these  promises.     But  who  does  not  comprehend  that 

1  In  1331,  Pope  John  XXII  authorized  a  married  professor  to  teach 
in  the  Faculty  of  Medicine  at  Paris.  It  was  an  exception.  The 
jurists  of  Bologna  were  relieved  from  the  obligation  of  celibacy 
earlier  than  those  of  Paris. 


286  ABELARD 

their  spirit  would  have  been  enlarged,  their  authority 
augmented,  and  their  pedagogic  influence  increased 
if,  to  their  other  qualities,  they  had  joined  that  of 
being  fathers  of  families?  Can  one  believe,  for  ex- 
ample, that  the  rude  and  severe  discipline  of  the  rod 
would  have  been  kept  up  so  long  in  the  schools,  if  the 
masters  of  these  schools  had  had  their  own  children 
as  pupils? 


CHAPTER  II 

EXTERNAL  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  UNIVERSITIES  AND 
THEIR  SPIRIT  OF  FREEDOM 

,  The  universities  as  a  public  force  — Political  and  social  influence 
—  Domination  of  the  University  of  Paris  —  Democratic  rules 
of  university  organization  —  The  habit  of  perpetual  argumen- 
tation a  preparation  for  political  action  —  Commentaries  on  the 
Politics  of  Aristotle  —  Intervention  in  public  affairs  —  Politi- 
cal philosophy  —  Clamor  for  reforms — Conception  of  a  paternal 
government  —  Intervention  in  ecclesiastical  affairs  —  Other  uni- 
versities —  National  character  —  German  universities  —  II.  Spirit 
of  liberty  in  the  old  universities  —  Free  language  toward  the 
Popes  themselves  —  Some  examples  of  independent  and  bold 
opinions  —  Beginnings  of  a  new  spirit —  More  liberal  methods  of 
study  recommended  by  Robert  de  Sorbon  —  Protests  against  the 
discipline  of  the  rod  —  Preparations  for  a  new  era — Decay  of  the 
mediaeval  universities  —  Conclusion. 


A  VAST  subject,  and  one  that  might  well  furnish  the 
subject  of  a  special  volume,  is  that  of  the  influence  of 
the  mediaeval  universities,  the  part  they  played  in  the 
history  of  the  human  mind,  and  the  political  and  social 
action  power  that  they  exercised.  ~    ] 

To  see  in  them  mere  associations  of  masters  and 
pupils,  exclusively  confined  to  studies,  would  be  to 
judge  them  incorrectly.     They  were  one  of  the  great- -^ 
public  forces  of  the  Middle  Ages.     Sole  depositaries 
of  the  lofty  speculations  of  thought  at  a  time  when 

287 


288  ABELARD 

academies  and  other  learned  bodies  were  not  in  exist- 
ence, when  neither  books,  journals,  nor  reviews,  were 
published,  • —  since  the  art  of  printing  had  not  yet  been 
invented,  —  they  represented  public  opinion,  not  alone 
in  scientific  matters,  but  in  great  political  and  ecclesi- 
astical questions  as  well.  Permanent  centres  of  propa- 
ganda and  action  when  no  regularly  constituted  political 
assemblies  existed,  or  when  the  States-General,  as  in 
France,  assembled  only  at  remote  intervals,  they  were 
destined  to  acquire  considerable  influence. 

This  is  especially  true  of  the  University  of  Paris. 
"The  authority  of  the  University  of  Paris,"  said 
Pasquier,  "  has  risen  to  such  a  height  that  it  is  neces- 
sary to  satisfy  it,  no  matter  on  what  conditions."^ 
Another  contemporary  attests  the  same  fact.  "The 
university  men  of  these  days  want  to  meddle  with 
everything."  And  again:  "The  said  University  had 
great  power  at  Paris,  so  much  so  that  when  it  un- 
dertook any  affair  it  was  bound  to  bring  it  to  a  con- 
clusion; it  wanted  to  meddle  with  the  government  of 
the  Pope,  the  King,  and  everything  else."^ 

With  history  in  our  hands,  everybody  must  agree 
that  the  exuberant  activity  of  the  universities  caused 
them  constantly  to  overstep  the  ordinary  limits  of 
mere  educational  institutions.  We  see  the  univer- 
sities intimately  blended  with  national  life.  When 
Philip  Augustus  had  just  triumphed  at  Bouvines  over 
the  English  and  German  coalition,  he  wrote  to  the 
students  of  Paris:  "Praise  God,  my  very  dear  ones, 

1  6tienne  Pasquier,  Rect.  de  la  France,  III,  chap.  xxix. 

2  Quoted  by  Coville,  Les  Cabochiens  et  I'ordonnance  de  1413,  Paris, 
Hachette,  1888,  p.  117. 


INFLUENCE   OF  UNIVERSITIES  289 

for  we  have  never  escaped  so  grave  a  danger."     Thus 
he  associates  the  university  with  the  victory  of  France. 
Later  on,  from  the  schools  of  Orleans,  Toulouse,  and 
Montpellier,  come  forth  those  legal  knights  (chevaliers 
^s  lois),^  all  panoplied  in  Roman  law,  who  struggle 
valiantly  against  feudalism  and  assure  the  progress  of 
the  Third-Estate.    They  fill  the  Parliament,  they  figure 
in  the  States-General ;  we  find  them  surrounding  Ste- 
phen Marcel,  and  again  among  the  authors  of  the  great 
Ordinance  of  the  Reformation  of  1413.     The  univef^ 
sities  then  appeared  wholly  penetrated  by  the  demo-1 
cratic  spirit;  they  were  considered  one  of  the  organs! 
of  public  opinion  in  Europe ;  in  great  crises,  like  the 
Schism  of  the  West,  appeal  was  made  to  their  inter- 1 
vention.*     "To  tell  the  truth,  they  did  not  wait  for  it( 
to  be  asked;  they  intervened  of  themselves."  i 

It  has  been  very  justly  remarked  that  by  their  repuT5'^ 
lican  organization,  and  the  character  of  their  instruction    \ 
and  methods  of  study,  the  universities  were  well  fitted     [ 
to  play  a  part  in  politics.     On  one  hand,  the  exercise    f 
of  the  elective  power,  and  the  frequency  of  deliberSr""^ 
tive  assemblies,  whether  of  Nations  and  Faculties,  or 
of  the  general  assembly  of  the  university,  were  all 
democratic  acts  which  prepared  the  universities  for  a 
certain  liberty  of  spirit,  held  them  back  from  passive 
obedience,  and,  in  a  word,  accustomed  them  in  advance 

1  Professors  of  Law,  at  Montpellier,  for  example,  were  considered 
as  Knights  of  Law.  After  twenty  years'  practice  they  became  Counts. 
Jacques  Rabutii,  the  famous  professor  of  the  fifteenth  century,  is 
styled  Count  of  Laws  in  his  epitaph.  At  Aix,  on  receiving  a  doctor- 
ate in  law,  it  was  said  to  him:  "2'e  comitem.  et  nohilem  facimus." 

2  Bayet,  Rector  of  the  Academy  of  Lille,  Z^iscours  de  Rentr^e  des 
FaculUs,  1891. 


r' 


290  ABELARD 

to  political  action.  On  the  other  hand,  the  habit  of 
incessant  argumentation  ;  of  discussing  the  pros  and 
cows  of  every  question  ;  the  exclusively  oral  character 
of  instruction  in  all  grades,  —  all  these  causes  combined 
to  form  numerous  debaters  and  orators  among  both 
students  and  masters,  encouraged  them  to  have  an  opin- 
ion on  all  subjects,  and  to  put  it  forward  in  the  assem- 
blies. "  Thence  arose,"  says  M.  Coville,  "  an  inevitable 
tisposition  to  talk  about  everything,  discuss  every- 
thing, intervene  in  everything."^ 

That  the  University  of  Paris  had  its  own  ideas  and 
its  political  doctrine  is  indubitable.  Following  Aris- 
totle, the  theologians  of  the  Middle  Ages  had  freely 
discussed  the  constitution  of  states.  In  1307,  Siger 
de  Brabant  read  and  commented  on  the  Politics  of  the 
Greek  philosopher  at  Paris.  Thomas  Aqtiinas  had 
composed  the  De  Begimine  principium,  and  the  De 
eruditione  principium.  His  disciple,  Gilles  de  Rojaie, 
Archbishop  of  Bourges,  who  was  tutor  to  Philip  the 
Fair,  also  followed  Aristotle  in  politics,  and  talked, 
like  him,  of  an  intermediate  class  between  the  nobles 
and  the  villeins,  and  of  its  importance  in  the  state. 

There  is  no  room  for  surprise,  therefore,  at  the  uni- 
versities taking  part  in  political  agitations.  The  great 
Cabochien  ordinance  of  1413,  one  of  the  best  adminis- 
trative reforms  of  old  France,  was  the  joint  work  of 
the  municipal  body  and  the  university. '^  But  how 
many  other  examples  could  be  cited  of  university  inter- 
ference in  state  affairs?     I  add  several,  but  with  no 

1  See  in  the  already  cited  work  of  M.  Coville,  the  chapter  entitled: 
I' University  de  Paris  au  XV'  Steele. 

2  Augustin  Thierry,  Ilistoire  du  Tiers-^tat,  p.  60. 


INFLUENCE   OF  UNIVERSITIES  291 

thought  of  exhausting  the  list.  In  131G,  tlie  Univer- 
sity of  Paris  recognized  Philip  V  as  the  legitimate 
king.  In  the  time  of  Stephen  Marcel,  about  1350, 
it  intervened  to  re-establish  peace :  "It  negotiated,  it 
obliged  its  clients  to  arm,  it  sent  a  deputation  to  the 
Dauphin,  who  was  regent  of  the  kingdom."  In  1374, 
"  the  rectors  and  several  masters  of  theology,  doctors 
of  law,  and  other  wise  clerics  of  the  university,"  con- 
curred with  the  bishops  in  establishing  the  act  which 
fixed  fourteen  years  as  the  age  when  kings  attain  their 
majority.  In  1405,  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  then  all- 
powerful  in  the  kingdom,  daily  consulted  the  univer- 
sity on  the  most  secret  affairs.  "  In  1409,  the  university 
takes  an  active  share  in  the  great  labor  of  reforming 
the  finances.  It  sends  ambassadors  to  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  and  the  Duke  of  Berry ;  it  is  formally  received 
by  the  King  in  the  green  chamber,  and  permitted  to 
expose  its  grievances  and  its  plans.  Tlie  King  him- 
self, in  1411,  entreats  its  assistance,  writes  long  letters 
to  it  concerning  the  state  of  the  realm,  and  entreats  it 
to  grant  him  aid  and  comfort."  Nor  does  this  partici- 
pation of  the  university  in  affairs  of  state  come  to  an 
end  in  less  troublous  times,  when  order  is  re-estab- 
lished. In  1465,  Louis  XI  summons  to  his  Council 
six  members  of  Parliament,  six  citizens  of  Paris,  and 
six  members  of  the  university.  The  university  is 
really  an  order  in  the  state,  and  its  political  powers 
decrease  and  disappear  only  with  the  progress  of  abso- 
lute monarchy.  In  1614  it  still  addressed  remon- 
strances to  the  States-General;  tliey  were  its  last, 
however. 

The  University  of  Paris  did  not  employ  the  politi- 


292  ABELARD 

cal  power  it  was  so  proud  of  in  making  opposition  to 
royalty.  Barring  a  few  slight  symptoms  of  insubor- 
dination to  the  royal  will,  it  always  remained  the 
docile  child,  "  the  eldest  daughter  "  of  the  monarchy. 
In  1557,  Henry  II,  who  had,  nevertheless,  some  grounds 
of  complaint  against  it,  praised  it  publicly,  "for  its 
fidelity  in  upholding  the  maxims  of  obedience  due 
to  kings  from  their  subjects."  Yet  I  would  not 
affirm  that  the  members  of  the  university  never 
irritated  and  annoyed  princes  by  the  warnings  they 
gave  them,  by  their  zeal  in  demanding  reforms,  and, 
above  all,  by  the  ideal  conception  of  monarchy  they 
had  formed,  and  which  they  constantly  set  forth  in 
their  writings  and  discourses.  Just  as  Louis  XIV 
afterwards  treated  Fenelon  as  a  "fanciful  person," 
because  he  dreamed  of  perfection  in  royalty,  so  these 
kings  of  the  older  monarchy  must  have  more  than 
once  regarded  these  university  theorizers  in  politics 
as  annoying  dreamers,  full  of  beautiful  chimeras,  who 
demanded  all  sorts  of  virtues  from  kings,  reminded 
them  of  the  example  of  "  Monsieur  St.  Louis, "  and,  in 
a  word,  were  bent  on  the  "  religious  and  ecclesiastical 
dream  of  sanctity  on  the  throne."  Such,  for  example, 
at  the  opening  of  the  fifteenth  century,  was  Robert 
Courte-Cuisse,  pupil,  and  afterwards  famous  master  of 
the  College  of  Navarre,  grand-almoner  to  the  King, 
and  a  greatly  esteemed  orator,  who  said :  "  The  King 
should  be  to  his  people  like  a  father  to  his  son." 
"The  King  ought  to  consider  the  general  welfare 
only,"  and  who  thus  commented  Aristotle's  maxim: 
"Princes  are  paramount  in  things  not  determined  by 
the   laws,   but  in  the  laws  themselves,  tio.'"     Such 


INFLUENCE  OF  UNIVERSITIES  293 

again  was  Gerson,  who,  like  Thomas  Aquinas,  ad- 
mitted the  right  of  insurrection  against  vicious  and 
tyrannical  kings.  "One  may  judge  a  tyrannical 
seigneur,"  said  he,  "if  he  is  a  sinner  in  several  cases: 
and  finally,  this  rule  of  law  may  be  applied  against 
him:  vim  vi  repeUere  licet."  But  what  Gerson  espe- 
cially desired  and  hoped  for  was,  that  education  in  the 
first  place,  and  afterwards  the  enlightenment  of  wise 
counsels,  would  aid  the  prince  to  amend  himself  and 
become  the  father  of  his  people.  These  disciplined 
but  independent  spirits,  although  profoundly  respect- 
ful toward  constituted  authorities,  were  yet  far  from 
dissimulating  and  holding  their  peace  concerning  the 
impression  made  on  them  by  the  real  miseries  and  vices 
of  their  age.  The  same  Gerson  who  would  have  desired 
to  reform  the  character  of  kings,  dared  to  write  con- 
cerning the  Papacy :  *'  The  Court  of  Rome  has  created 
a  thousand  offices  in  order  to  obtain  gold;  but  hardly 
is  one  discoverable  for  the  cultivation  of  virtue. 
Nothing  is  talked  of  there  from  morning  to  night  but 
armies,  lands,  cities,  and  money;  rarely  or  never  do 
they  speak  of  chastity,  alms,  justice,  fidelity,  and  good 
morals." 

The  University  of  Paris  meddled  in  religious  quar-  4^ 
rels  as  well  as  in  political  ones.    Under  this  head,  a  ! 
historian  has  brilliantly  summed  up  the  part  it  played  j 
in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries :   "  This  vast  ■ 
corporation  which  represents  divine  and  human  science, 
cannot  confine  itself  within  the  limits  of  its  lessons 
and  examinations,  nor  remain  a  stranger  to  great  exte- 
rior events.     If  it  speaks,  it  knows  what  weight  will 
attach  to  its  opinion,  and  how  many  faithful  adherents 


294  ABELARD 

it  will  find  to  support  and  defend  it.  We  see  it  busied 
with,  and  taking  an  interest  in,  everything;  but, 
above  all,  in  the  affairs  of  the  Church.  It  is  the  epoch 
of  the  great  Schism  of  the  West,  and  never  has  there 
been  such  an  occasion  to  display  the  power  and  activity 
of  the  University  of  Paris :  it  inquires  into  the  power 
of  the  Schismatical  Popes;  it  causes  them  to  be 
attacked,  ill-treated,  and  condemned  by  its  orators; 
it  draws  up  interminable  writings,  audacious  both 
in  matter  and  form;  ...  it  appeals  to  the  future 
Pope;  with  the  concurrence  of  the  king,  it  prepares 
and  consummates  an  act  of  the  greatest  gravity,  the 
withdrawal  of  the  Church  of  Prance  from  Benedict 
XIII,  the  Avignon  Pope,  whom  it  had  recognized  until 
then,  but  who  would  not  yield  to  its  requests  and 
exigencies;  ...  it  suggests  the  reunion  of  National 
Councils  to  the  King,  in  1393,  1394,  1398,  and  1400; 
there  it  manages  all  the  debates ;  it  presides  at  the  tear- 
ing up  of  pontifical  bulls ;  finally,  it  is  the  soul  of  the 
General  Council  which  was  to  restore  peace  and  unity 
to  the  Church  after  a  disturbance  of  more  than  thirty 
years  —  the  Council  of  Pisa,  in  1409 ;  it  is  represented 
there  by  a  formal  embassy ;  more  than  eighty  votes  are 
cast  by  its  members;  and  the  new  and  only  Pope, 
Alexander  V,  has  been  not  only  one  of  its  pupils  but 
one  of  its  masters."^  Though  it  had  not  always  the 
same  brilliancy  the  ecclesiastical  role  of  the  University 
of  Paris  has,  nevertheless,  always  been  considerable ; 
and  the  popes  have  always  reckoned  with  the  Sorbonne. 
Assuredly  the  other  universities  have  not  played  a 
role  equally  important;  above  all,  they  did  not  play 
1  Coville,  op.  cit.,  p.  117. 


INFLUENCE   OF  UNIVERSITIES  296 

one  so  soon.  It  was  only  in  the  seventeenth  century 
(in  1603)  that  Oxford  and  Cambridge  were  invested 
with  the  right  they  still  have,  of  returning  members 
to  the  British  Parliament.  It  was  well  on  in  the  six- 
teenth century  when  Henry  VIII  consulted  the  Uni- 
versity of  Salamanca  concerning  his  divorce  from 
Catherine  of  Aragon.  But,  sooner  or  later,  accoYd^Hf 
ing  to  circumstances,  all  the  universities  have  had  | 
their  day  of  political  or  religious  influence.  The  j 
Italian  universities  seem  to  be  the  ones  whiclTWitBr 
drew  most  into  the  isolation  of  study  and  speculation. 
But  Louvain,  in  Belgium,  has  been  one  of  the  fortresses 
of  Catholicism.  Oxford  has  been  Royalist  and  Jacobite 
by  turns,  and  remains  Tory,^  I  have  pointed  out 
elsewhere  that  it  was  with  a  view  to  national  consoli- 
dation that  the  kings  founded  the  Universities  of 
Poitiers,  Caen,  Bordeaux,  and  Douai. 

In  Germany  particularly,  the  universities  have  had 
a  marked  tendency  to  become  centres  of  political  and 
religious  action.  **The  German  universities,"  says 
M.  Lavisse,  "have  always  mingled  actively  in  the 
national  life,  since  the  day  when  the  first  of  them  was 
founded  at  Prague,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  on  the 
model  of  the  flourishing  school  of  Paris.  Never  have 
institutions  imported  from  abroad  flourished  better  or 
thrust  deeper  roots  into  a  new  soil.  The  universities 
began  to  play  a  part  by  the  fifteenth  century;  there 
the  new  ideas  that  are  agitating  minds  seek  shelter 

^  It  was  to  make  headway  against  Oxford,  the  centre  of  Toryism, 
that  the  Whig  party  founded  the  University  of  Tendon  in  1828.  It 
was  to  struggle  against  the  preponderating  Catholic  influence  at 
Louvain  that  the  Belgian  Liberals  founded  the  University  of  Brussels 
in  1834. 


296  ABELARD 

against  persecution ;  when  the  time  arrives,  they  recruit 
arms  and  intelligences  there  for  their  defence.  In  the 
sixteenth  century,  the  universities  are  the  battle  fields : 
Luther's  cry  of  revolt  issues  from  Wittenberg;  there, 
and  at  the  same  time,  the  fathers  of  the  new  church 
are  formed,  and  the  first  masters  who,  carrying  into 
science  a  liberty  of  spirit  disenthralled  from  tradition, 
discovered  new  horizons  for  it.  Nevertheless,  Catholi- 
cism, surprised  at  first,  defends  itself  vigorously,  and 
with  the  very  arms  by  which  it  is  attacked.  Both 
parties  found  new  universities  or  reform  old  ones. 
Luther  thinks  that  there  is  no  work  more  worthy  of  a 
pope  or  an  emperor,  or,  to  translate  him  more  exactly, 
that  'nothing  is  more  pontifical  nor  more  imperial ' 
than  a  good  reform  of  the  universities."  ^ 

II 

/  ^"Tfhis  external  influence  of  the  universities,  which  ra- 

/    diates  throughout  all  society,  would  be  inexplicable  if 

the  universities  had  not  been  intrinsic  centres  of  intel- 

-/     lectual  development,  truly  active  and  living  scholastic 

{     institutions.     Whatever  judgment  may  be  formed  of 

the  instruction  given  by  them,  it  must  not  be  forgotten 

that  they  alone  gave  any;  that  they  had  the  monopoly 

of  studies;  and  that  almost  no  one  arrived  at  high 

ecclesiastical  dignities,  or  important  positions  in  the 

1  Lavisse,  Ln  fondation  de  I'UniverxiU  de  Berlin  {Revue  des 
Deux  Monde fi,  May  15,  187G).  In  this  article  M.  Lavisse  points  out 
that  in  founding  the  National  University  of  Berlin,  in  1810,  directly 
after  its  disasters,  Germany  sought  a  means  of  arising  after  its  mili- 
tary and  political  downfall,  by  instituting  a  new  organ  of  intellectual 
force. 


INFLUENCE   OF  UNIVERSITIES  297 

state,  without  passing  through  them.  One  can  imag- 
ine what  must  have  been  the  prestige  and  power  of 
these  schools,  which  had  such  an  excellent  clienUle 
throughout  the  world,  which  trained  future  bishops 
and  popes,  as  well  as  the  counsellors  of  lay  princes 
which  peopled  the  Church  and  the  royal  and  imperial 
courts  with  their  pupils,  and  gave  preceptors  to  the 
heirs-presumptive  of  crowns.  The  universities  were 
the  privileged  source  whence  in  those  days  emerged 
all  whose  knowledge  gave  them  admission  to  the 
ruling  classes. 

Hence  we  must  not  be  surprised  at  finding  the  uni\ 
versities  of  the  Middle  Ages  frequently  expressing] 
their  opinions  with  the  hardihood  and  even  arrogancei 
of  free  and  independent  corporations,  and  not  with  the 
timidity  and  humility  befitting  schools  absolutely! 
dependent  on  Church  and  State.  The  University  of) 
Paris,  however  much  attached  to  the  Church,  did  not 
spare  the  bishops,  or  even  the  popes.  It  let  pass  no 
occasion  to  assert  its  rights.  Were  they  liegemen  of 
the  clergy,  those  university  men  of  1330  or  there- 
abouts, who  declared  that  the  Bishop  of  Paris,  Hugues 
de  BesanQon,  was  cut  off  from  the  academic  body  for 
having  broken  the  oath  taken  in  his  youth,  when  a 
student  of  the  Faculty  of  Decretal,  an  oath  of  de- 
votion to  the  privileges  of  the  university,  by  con- 
demning to  a  fine  a  student  guilty  of  rape?  Were 
they  the  humble  servants  of  the  Papacy,  those  theo- 
logians who,  towards  the  end  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  wrote,  in  a  letter  to  the  Pope  of  Avignon  a 
letter  which  Clement  VI  thought  full  of  venom :  "  Let 
the  pastors  do  their  duty ;  as  for  us,  we  shall  do  ours. 


298  ABELAKD 

...  It  is  of  small  consequence  how  many  popes 
there  are ;  two,  three,  ten  if  you  like :  each  kingdom 
can  have  its  own !  " 

Nor  was  it  in  the  domain  of  practical  affairs  only 
that  the  universities  displayed  their  independence.  It 
is  indisputable  that  in  certain  universities  a  real  lib- 
erty of  spirit  made  itself  felt,  in  spite  of  the  uniformity 
of  studies  and  the  rigidity  of  methods.  M.  Renan 
does  not  hesitate  to  affirm,  in  his  book  on  Averroes, 
that  "  the  opuscules  of  Albertus  Magnus  and  of  Thomas 
Aquinas  contra  Averroistas  were  directly  aimed  at  the 
professors  of  the  rue  du  Fouarre."  Assuredly  the 
majority  of  the  masters  were  orthodox,  and  followed 
the  traditional  doctrines  with  docility.  Then,  theo- 
logical professors  in  especial,  all  were  Thomists.  But 
close  beside  this  obedient  and  faithful  multitude  there 
were  independent  and  adventurous  minds.  The  spirit 
of  free  examination  had  already  its  adepts.  Whom 
could  the  condemnations  and  excommunications  pro- 
nounced, between  1240  and  1270,^  against  a  free  and 
audacious  philosophy  have  had  in  view,  at  a  time  when 
the  university  had  a  monopoly,  not  merely  of  instruc- 
tion, but  of  thought  and  speculation,  if  not  members 
of  the  university  themselves?  Abelard's  method  bore 
its  fruits,  and  the  emancipated  reason  already  venti- 
lated the  most  daring  questions,  and  accepted  the  most 
novel  solutions;  for  example,  such  as  these:  "Tlie 
world  is  eternal  —  Human  actions  are  not  governed  by 
Divine  Providence  —  One  knows  nothing  more  after 
having  learned  theology  —  Tliere  are  fables  and  errors 
in  the  Christian  law  as  in  all  other  laws  —  Philoso- 

1  Chartalarium  Univ.  Paris.,  t.  i,  pp.  170,  480. 


INFLUENCE  OF  UNIVERSITIES  299 

phers  are  the  only  sages  —  The  creation  of  the  world 
is  an  impossible  thing."  The  mere  fact  that  proposi- 
tions like  these  could  have  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  ecclesiastical  power  and  provoked  its  anathema, 
demonstrates  that  they  were  wide-spread,  and  were 
inculcated:  and  where  could  they  be  so,  I  repeat,  if 
not  in  the  universities?  Moreover,  a  contemporary 
testimony,  that  of  a  Friar-Preacher  of  Paris,  named 
Gilles,  leaves  no  room  for  doubt.  Toward  the  close 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  this  monk  propounded  to 
Albertus  Magnus,  inviting  him  either  to  refute  or  to 
contest  them,  eleven  propositions  analogous  to  those 
just  cited,  adding  that  *'  they  were  taught  in  the  schools 
by  the  masters  of  Paris,  and  by  those  who  are  esteemed 
the  most  learned  in  philosophy."^ 

"The  orthodoxy  of  the  Middle  Ages,"  says  Thurot, 
"  was  reconcilable  with  a  liberty  that  even  seems 
excessive.  The  custom  of  not  deciding  until  after 
having  considered  the  pros  and  cons,  and  the  obliga- 
tion to  consider  all  objections,  gave  the  mind  the  habi- 
tudes of  liberty.  Men  made  a  boast  of  not  relying  on 
the  authority  of  Scripture,  but  employing  nothing  but 
mere  argument.  .  .  .  They  felt  obliged  to  explain 
everything;  they  preferred  new  and  hazardous  doc- 
trines to  those  that  were  truer,  but  appeared  super- 
annuated. They  scorned  what  seemed  too  clear."  ^  It 
folloAvs  that  the  period  of  the  Middle  Ages,  even  from 
the  doctrinal  point  of  view,  was  far  from  being  an 
epoch  of  blind  servility  and  absolute  traditionalism.* 

1  Renan,  Averroes,  etc.,  p.  214.  ^  Thurot,  op.  cit.,  p.  161. 

8  Compare  this  appreciation  by  M.  Bayet,  in  the  discourse  already 
cited:  "  It  must  not  be  believed  that  the  scientific  spirit  was  entirely 


300  ABELARD 

So  too,  we  must  not  believe  that  the  methods  of 
instruction  were  wholly  reduced  to  the  mechanism  of 
the  syllogism  and  mere  verbal  formalities.  A  proof 
to  the  contrary  may  be  found  in  a  recently  published 
passage  from  the  inedited  works  of  the  founder  of  the 
Sorbonne.  Robert  de  Sorbon  recommended  to  the 
scholar  who  desired  to  make  progress  in  his  studies, 
the  observation  of  six  essential  rules,  which  he  sum- 
marized thus : 

1.  To  devote  a  certain  hour  to  a  given  lesson,  as  St. 
Bernard  had  already  counselled ; 

2.  To  fix  his  attention  on  what  he  has  just  read  and 
not  pass  over  it  lightly :  " between  reading  and  study," 
said  St.  Bernard  again,  ''there  is  the  same  difference 
as  between  a  guest  and  a  friend  ;  between  a  salutation 

lacking  in  these  old  universities,  nor  that  they  were  confined  to  the 
study  of  theology.  In  their  own  fashion  they  desired  to  extend  and 
co-ordinate  all  knowledge,  and  never,  perhaps,  has  man  had  a  prouder 
confidence  in  the  puissance  of  reasoning.  They  were  not  content  to 
reason  merely:  men  lived  in  these  schools  who  foresaw  the  methods 
of  ohservation  and  experiment  which  are  the  glory  of  our  century. 
The  English  monk,  Roger  Bacon,  in  the  thirteenth  century  spent 
long  years  in  the  University  of  Paris,  where  he  was  the  pupil  of  a 
certain  Pierre  de  Maucoint  to  whom  he  gives  the  fine  title  of  '  Master 
of  Experiments,  DominxiR  expcrimentorum.'  When  he  Avished  to 
determine  the  principles  of  science,  he  wrote :  '  There  are  three  ways 
of  arriving  at  truth:  authority,  whi(!h  can  only  produce  faitli,  and 
must,  moreover,  justify  itself  in  the  eye  of  reason ;  reasoning,  tlie 
most  certain  conclusions  of  wliich  leave  somewhat  to  be  desired, 
unless  one  verifies  them ;  and,  finally,  experiment,  which  suffices  by 
itself.'  And  he  insists  on  this  fact,  that  '  above  all  the  speculative 
sciences  and  the  arts,  there  is  the  science  of  making  experiments 
which  shall  not  be  incomplete  and  feeble.'  Roger  Bacon  speaks  the 
same  language  that  one  listens  to  again  in  his  homonym  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  and  certainly  Claude  Bernard  himself  has  not 
spoken  more  confidently  of  the  excellence  of  experimental  methods." 


INFLUENCE   OF   UNIVERSITIES  301 

exchanged  with  a  passer-by  in  the  street  and  an  inti- 
mate and  unchangeable  affection  " ; 

3.  To  extract  from  his  daily  reading  some  one 
thought  or  truth,  and  engrave  it  on  his  memory  with 
especial  care,  as  prescribed  by  Seneca; 

4.  To  write  a  summary  of  what  he  has  read;  for 
words  which  are  not  confided  to  writing  vanish  like 
dust  before  the  wind ; 

5.  To  confer  with  his  fellow  pupils,  either  in  the 
disputationes,  or  in  familiar  conversations ;  this  exer- 
cise is  still  more  advantageous  than  reading,  for  its 
effect  is  to  clear  up  all  doubts  and  obscurities ; 

6.  Finally,  to  pray,  which,  according  to  St.  Bernard, 
is  one  of  the  best  means  to  learn.  ^ 

These  pedagogic  rules  certainly  bear  the  imprint 
of  their  age,  since  they  end  in  extolling  a  mystical 
process  prayer,  and  celebrate  the  benefits  arising  from 
discussion,  that  favorite  method  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
But  do  they  not  also  bear  witness  to  a  new  spirit  when 
they  recommend  meditation,  that  is  to  say,  personal 
effort,  prolonged  and  patient  thought?  To  these  stu- 
dents of  the  thirteenth  century,  crushed  under  a  flood 
of  words  and  an  avalanche  of  dogmas,  who  left  the  ordi- 
nary lesson  only  to  pass  at  once  into  the  extraordi- 
nary one,  who  had  no  time  to  straighten  out  or  pull 

1  Inedited  passage  from  Robert  de  Sorbon,  quoted  by  M.  Lecoy  de 
la  Marche,  op.  cit.,  p.  453.  "  A  professor  whose  school  was  full  was 
asked :  '  What  do  you  do  to  achieve  such  a  great  success  ? ' — '  It  is 
very  simple,'  he  replied  smiling,  '  God  studies  for  me.  I  merely  go 
to  Mass,  and  when  I  come  back  I  know  by  that  all  I  ought  to 
teach '  "  {Ibid.,  p.  455).  It  would  be  difficult  to  expect  much  of 
the  scientific  spirit  from  men  who  were  nourished  on  these  pious 
prejudices. 


302  ABELARD 

themselves  together,  so  bent  were  they  under  perpetual 
dictations,  and  whose  minds  never  regained  elasticity 
save  in  complying  with  the  mechanical  and  routine 
discipline  of  syllogistic  reasoning,  Robert  de  Sorbon 
opened  the  way  to  individual  thought;  he  invited  them 
to  reflect,  to  choose,  to  study  for  themselves,  and  thus 
to  return  to  the  lost  sources  of  originality.  And  the  in- 
tention of  our  author  becomes  plain  when,  long  before  the 
critics  of  the  Renaissance,  he  gibes  at  the  wretched  intel- 
lectual habits  of  the  students  of  his  time,  who  thought 
they  had  done  all  they  could  when  they  had  filled  their 
copy-books  with  notes.  "Not  to  seem  as  if  they  had 
lost  their  time,"  said  he,  "  they  collect  leaves  of  parch- 
ment, make  thick  volumes  of  them,  with  plenty  of 
blank  spaces  on  the  inside,  and  bind  them  elegantly  in 
red  leather;  then  they  return  to  the  paternal  mansion 
with  a  little  bag  crammed  full  of  science  but  with  a 
mind  completely  empty."  An  "empty  mind"  —  was 
not  that  the  characteristic  of  an  intelligence  exercised 
in  purely  formal  studies,  inured  to  abstract  processes 
of  reasoning,  but  shut  away  from  all  positive  knowl- 
edge concerning  the  past  of  humanity  and  the  nature 
of  the  world?  And  if  it  was  not  given  to  Robert  de 
Sorbon  to  correct  the  faults  which  he  defined  so 
clearly,  at  least  we  owe  him  thanks  for  having  pointed 
them  out,  and,  at  the  same  time,  as  it  is  permissible  to 
think,  for  having  inspired  a  certain  number  of  his  con- 
temporaries with  his  more  comprehensive  and  reason- 
able way  of  understanding  study. 

\  So  too,  finally,  in  matters  of  discipline,  it  happened 
more  than  once  in  the  height  of  the  Middle  Ages,  that 

/  certain   minds    in   advance   of  their  times,  protested 


INFLUENCE  OP  UNIVERSITIES  303 

against  the  use  of  corporal  chastisements,  and  demanded 
gentler  and  more  liberal  regulations.  Such  was  Gerson 
who,  in  his  opusculum  de  ParvuUs  ad  Christum  trahen- 
dis,  enjoined  the  masters  to  have  a  fatherly  tenderness 
for  their  pupils,  and  interdicted  the  employment  of  the 
rod.  Such  also  was  St.  Anselm,  whose  often  quoted 
protest  is  well  known :  "  Day  and  night,"  said  an  abbot 
to  him,  "we  do  not  cease  to  chastise  the  children 
confided  to  our  care,  and  they  grow  worse  and  worse. " 
Anselm  replied :  "  Indeed !  You  do  not  cease  to  chastise 
them!  And  when  they  are  grown  up  what  will  they 
become?  Idiotic  and  stupid.  A  fine  education  that, 
which  makes  brutes  of  men!  ...  If  you  were  to 
plant  a  tree  in  your  garden,  and  were  to  enclose  it  on 
all  sides  so  that  it  could  not  extend  its  branches,  what 
would  you  find  when,  at  the  end  of  several  years,  you 
set  it  free  from  its  bonds?  A  tree  whose  branches 
would  be  bent  and  crooked;  and  would  it  not  be  your 
fault,  for  having  so  unreasonably  confined  it?  "  -— ___ 
Thus  there  was  forming  in  the  very  bosom  of  the 
routine  university,  a  party  of  the  future,  already  in 
possession  of  the  ideas  which  became  the  common- 
places of  the  pedagogy  of  the  Eenaissance.  Here  a,nd 
there  amid  the  writings  of  the  university  men  of  the 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  Ave  find  the  germ 
from  Avhich  the  modern  spirit  has  developed.  It  must 
be  thoroughly  recognized,  however,  that  this  evolution 
took  place  outside  of  the  old  universities  although  they 
prepared  the  way  for  it;  it  took  place  in  opposition  to 
them,  by  virtue  of  that  fatal  law  which  forbids  old 
institutions  to  reform  themselves,  and  which  condemns 
them  to  decline  and  disappear  when  their  time  has 


304  ABELARD 

come,  and  the  needs  which  they  originally  supplied 
have  given  place  to  other  requirements.  Born  at  an 
epoch  when  the  only  question  was  to  preserve  the 
deposit  of  traditional  beliefs,  the  universities  were  not 
armed  for  the  conquests  of  science.  Hence,  after  days 
of  brilliancy  and  glory,  came  years  and  centuries  of 
obscurity.  "The  ancient  universities,"  has  said  an 
historian  of  the  sciences,  M.  Biot,  "  were  in  the  eigli- 
teenth  century  several  centuries  in  arrears  of  all  that 
concerns  sciences  and  the  arts.  Peripatetics  when  all 
the  world  had  renounced  the  philosophy  of  Aristotle 
with  Descartes,  they  became  Cartesians  when  the  rest 
were  Newtonians.  That  is  the  way  with  learned 
bodies  which  do  not  make  discoveries." 
/But  although  they  have  not  had  the  privilege,  refused 
.'  to  all  human  institutions,  scholastic  or  other,  of  brav- 
;  ing  the  onslaught  of  time  and  of  being  founded  for 
.eternity,  the  old  universities  of  the  Middle  Ages  have, 
/nevertheless,  rendered  immense  services.  To  demon- 
strate this,  it  would  suffice  to  draw  up  the  list  of  their 
illustrious  professors  and  pupils.  It  was  not  merely 
theologians  and  churchmen  that  they  formed ;  it  was 
also  literary  men  and  poets ;  a  Petrarch,  whom  we  have 
seen  studying  at  Bologna  and  Montpellier ;  a  Dante  who 
had  visited  the  schools  of  the  rue  du  Fouarre.  The 
very  men  who  have  attacked  and  depreciated  them 
issued  from  their  schools  and  were  indebted  to  them, 
in  part  at  any  rate,  for  their  knowledge.  Erasmus 
studied  at  the  College  of  Montaigu  in  Paris ;  Montaigne 
was  a  pupil  of  the  College  of  Guyenne,  a  dependency 
of  the  Faculty  of  Arts  at  Bordeaux;  Rabelais  had 
frequented  almost  all  tlie  Frencli  universities;  Calvin 


INFLIJENCE   OF  UNIVERSITIES  306 

was  a  student  of  Orleans  and  Bourges ;  Bacon  studied 
at  the  University  of  Cambridge. 

But  let  us  not  dwell  solely  on  the  famous  masters  or 
illustrious  students  who  have  been  the  glory  of  the  uni- 
versities. Think  of  those  thousands  of  obscure  men, 
those  successive  generations  of  masters,  who  patiently 
tilled  the  field  of  science.  They  sowed,  it  is  quite 
possible,  only  an  inferior  sort  of  grain:  they  knew 
neither  good  processes  of  tillage  nor  good  methods  of 
scattering  seed!  But  at  least,  their  labor  and  inces- 
sant efforts  kept  the  ground  in  a  state  of  cultiva- 
tion ;  they  did  not  permit  it  to  lie  fallow ;  they  did  not 
leave  the  fields  of  thought  to  be  overrun  by  thorns  and 
briars.  One  may  say  what  he  likes  of  their  sterile 
tasks  and  wasted  pains.  They  commented,  commented, 
commented.  They  invented  nothing.  They  ground 
away  at  the  empty  mill  of  dialectic!  They  wore 
themselves  out  in  subtleties,  in  fine  distinctions,  in 
quibblings.  A  single  experiment  in  chemistry  or 
modern  physics,  a  solitary  physiological  or  anatomical 
observation  does  more  service  to  humanity  than  their 
enormous  folios.  But  none  the  less,  they  have  de- 
served well  from  science  by  making  ready  for  the 
future,  by  rendering  possible  the  rich  harvests  of  the 
sixteenth  and  succeeding  centuries.  In  the  chaiti  of- 
humanity's  successive  progress  they  have  been  a  link, 
a  ring,  less  brilliant  perhaps,  but  as  solid  as  the  others, 
as  necessary  as  any  for  the  transmission  of  the  intel- 
lectual and  moral  current  of  the  spiritual  life.  And 
the  proof  that  their  work  has  not  been  wrought  in 
vain,  that  the  scholastic  organism,  of  which  they  were 
the  springs,  was  not  unworthy  to  live,  is  that,  even 


306  ABELARD 

to-day,  in  all  civilized  countries,  in  young  America 
as  in  old  Europe,  men  labor  to  maintain  and  develop 
where  they  exist  already,  and  to  create  or  revive  where 
they  have  disappeared,  the  universities  of  modern 
times,  inheritors  of  the  name,  and,  in  many  respects, 
worthy  representatives  of  the  traditions  of  those  of 
the  Middle  Ages. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY » 

Works  relating  to  the  general  history  of  universities 

P.  Heiiirich  Denifle,  Die  Entsteheung  der  Universitaten  des 
Mittelaltcrs  his  1400,  erster  Band,  Berlin,  1885. 

F.  C.  de  Savigny,  Geschichte  des  rbmischen  liechts  im  Mittel- 
alter.    6  vols.     1815-1831. 

Vallet  de  Viriville,  Ilistoire  de  VInstruction  piiblique  en 
Europe.     1  vol.    Paris,  1849. 

— Henry  Maiden,  On  the  Origin  of  Universities.     1  vol.     Lon- 
don, 1835. 

Laurie,  Lectures  on  the  JRise  and  Early  Constitution  of 
Universities.     1  vol.     London,  1886. 

Meiners,  Geschichte  der  Entstehung  und  Entwickelung  der 
hohen  schulen  unsei's  Erdtheils.   Gottingen,  1802-1805.   4  Bands. 

Paul  Lacroix,  Le  moyen  Qge  et  la  Benaissance.  6  vols. 
Paris,  1847-1852. 

University  of  Paris 

Bulaeus,  Historia  Universitatis  parisiensis.  6  vols.  1665- 
1673. 

Crevier,  Histoire  de  V  Universite  de  Paris,  1761.     7  vols. 

Jourdain,  Histoire  de  I' Universite  de  Paris  au  XVIP  et  au 
XVIIP  siecles.     Paris,  1862-1866. 

Histoire  litteraire  de  la  France,  particularly  volume  XVI, 
and  the  Discours  sur  Vetat  de  lettres  au  XIIP,  et  au  XIV'  siecle, 
in  volume  XXV  de  Daunon  et  de  Victor  Leclerc. 

1  The  books  already  puljlished  on  tlie  history  of  tlie  universities 
of  the  Middle  Ages  would  make  a  large  library.  I  confine  myself 
here  to  an  enumeratiou  of  the  most  important,  and  those  of  which 
I  have  made  use. 

307 


308 


ABELARD 


Charles  de  Remnsat,  AUlard.     2  vols.    Taris,  1845. 

Haureau,  Histoire  de  la  jMlosophie  scholastique.  2  vols. 
Paris,  1880. 

Tliurot,  De  r organisation  de  Venseignment  dans  V  Universite 
de  Paris  au  moyen  cige.     1  vol.     Paris,  1850. 

Denifle,  Chartulanum  Universitatis  Parisiensis.  Paris, 
Deldain.     (Two  volumes  have  been  published,  1889-1891.) 

Budonsky,  Die  Universitdt  Paris  und  die  Fremden  an  dersel- 
ben  im  Mittelalter.     1  vol.    Berlin,  1875. 


Provincial  Universities  of  France 

Marcel  Foumier,  Les  statnts  et  privileges  des  Universites 
fran(^aises  depuis  letir  fondation  jusque  1789.  (Two  volumes 
have  been  published.) 

Bimbenet,  Histoire  de  V  Universite  de  Lois  d'  Orleans.  1  vol. 
Paris,  1853. 

Germain,  J^tnde  historiqne  S7ir  Vecole  de  droit  de  Montpellier. 
Montpellier,  1877. 

Pierre  Kangeard,  Histoire  de  V  Universite  d'' Angers.  1  vol. 
Angers,  1808. 

Henri  Beaune  et  d'Arbaurnim,  Les  Universites  de  Franche 
Comte.     1  vol.     Dijon,  1870. 

Gadien-Arnoult,  De  V  Universite  de  Tonlouse  «  Vepoqne  de 
vapordation  en  1229.     Toulouse,  1800. 

Nadal,  Histoire  de  V  Universite  de  Valence.  1  vol.  Valence, 
1801. 

Bandel,  Histoire  de  V  Universite  de  Cahors.  1  vol.  Cahors, 
1876. 


German  Universities 

Comek,  Geschichte  dcr  Prager  Universitilten.     Prag,  1849. 
Baumer,  Die  dentschen  Univfrsitiiten.     Stuttgart,  1854. 
Kaufmauii,  Die  (Jeschichte  der  dentschen  Universitilten.  Vol,  I. 
Stuttgart,  1888, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  309 


English  Universities 

MuUinger,  The  University  of  Cambridge.    2  vols.    Cambridge, 
1873-1884. 
Huber,  Die  englischen  universitaten.     Cassel,  1839-1840. 
Newman,  Historical  Sketches  (3d  vol.).    London,  1875. 


Italian  Universities 

Ettore  Coppi,  Le  Universita  Italiana  nel  medio  evo.    1  voL 
Firenze,  1880. 


Spanish  Universities 

Vicente  de  la  Fuente,   Historia  de   las    Universidades   en 
Espnna.     4  vols.     Madrid,  1884-1889. 
Zarate,  De  la  instruccion  publica  en  Espana.    Madrid,  1853. 


ll?L.^-/LJ/-'^-^'- 


■,  l\. 


INDEX 


Abelard,  the  real   founder   of  the 
University    of    Paris,    3;     Victor 
Cousin  on,  4;  as  a  pupil,  6;  opens 
schools  of  his  own,  7 ;  his  pre-emi- 
nent abilities  as  a  teacher,  9,  16 
before  the  Council  of  Soissons,  11 
at  Sens,  12;  his  self-confidence,  12 
his    career    as    a    professor,    14 
founds  the  Paraclete,  15;   by  his 
method  the  precursor  of  the  mod- 
ern spirit,  18;  his  Sic  et  Non,  20; 
his  method  reigned  supreme  in  the 
University,   21;    the   eminence  of 
his   pupils    22;    the   precursor  of 
the  Renaissance,  23;  influence  of, 
upon  the  founding  of  universities, 
24. 

Albertus,  Magnus,  204. 

Aquinas,  Thomas,  on  the  specializa- 
tion of  the  universities  in  the 
thirteenth  century,  29,  204. 

Aristotle's  Logic  studied  in  the  Fac- 
ulty of  Arts,  176;  Ethics  of,  178; 
his  Physics,  179;  at  Oxford  and 
Cambridge,  181,  182. 

Arts,  Faculty  of,  at  Paris,  175; 
works  read  in,  176,  182;  mixed 
character  of,  191;  had  the  lowest 
rank,  199. 

Avignon,  University  of,  29. 

B 

Barbarossa,  Frederick,  and  the  Uni- 
versity of  Bologna,  42,  76,  82;  the 
Habita  of,  76. 


Baccalaureate,  the,  151  et  seq.;  deri- 
vation of  the  work,  153  note. 

Bachelor,  signification  of  the  word, 
148,  154. 

Bachelorship,  the  test  for,  150;  sig- 
nificance of,  154. 

Bacon,  Roger,  studied  at  Paris,  56; 
a  Humanist  of  the  first  rank,  59; 
on  the  progress  of  civil  law,  219. 

Blois,  Peter  of,  67. 

Boethius,  Divisions  and  Topics, 
178,  182. 

Bologna,  University  of,  the  first  in 
date,  25,  27;  at  first  a  school  of 
Roman  law,  29 ;  instituted  by  Fred- 
erick Barbarossa,  42,  49,  56,  63; 
its  imitators,  65;  the  imperial  con- 
stitution of,  76;  the  centre  of 
canon  and  Roman  law,  222,  225; 
the  "  Nations  "  at,  how  consti- 
tuted, 105;  rector  of,  123,  125. 

Books  used  in  the  universities,  1S2 
et  seq.;  method  of  studying,  183 
et  seq.;  scarcity  of,  186. 

Bordeaux,  University  of,  43. 

Bourges,  University  of,  44. 


Caen,  University  of,  43. 

Cahors,  University  of,  42,  47. 

Cambridge,  University  of,  47,  56; 
its  origin  as  described  by  Monta- 
lembert,  6S;  the  chancellor  of,  124. 

Canon  law,  the  study  of,  234;  Fac- 
ulty of,  236,  a  caste  by  themselves, 
237. 

311 


312 


INDEX 


Cessatio,  the  right  of,  87. 

Chancellor,  the  office  of,  116  et  seq. 

Church,  the,  relations  of,  to  the  in- 
tellectual movement,  36  et  seq. 

Civil  Law,  Faculty  of,  227;  courses 
and  methods  of  instruction  in,  227 
et  seq.,  231 ;  books  used,  229. 

Class-room,  University,  appearance 
of,  170. 

Clericus,  the  word,  74. 

Coimbra,  University  of,  65. 

Colleges  in  Paris  and  elsewhere,  194 
et  seq. 

"  Colleges  "  used  instead  of  "  Fac- 
ulties," 111. 

Columbus  supported  by  the  Univer- 
sity of  Salamanca,  59. 

Conceptualism,  Abelard's  doctrine, 
18. 

Constantine  the  African,  242,  244, 
250. 

Corporal  punishment  in  the  univer- 
sities, 279. 

Cornell,  Ezra,  28. 

Courses,  University,  172;  Extraor- 
dinary, meaning  of  the  term,  173. 

Criminal  jurisdiction  at  various  uni- 
versities, 78  et  seq. 

Croisset,  Professor  M.,  quoted,  45. 

Crusades,  influence  of,  upon  West- 
ern Europe,  33. 

D 

Dean,  the  University,  135. 
Decretals  of  Gratian,  the  influence 

of  Abelard's  method  in,  22. 
Degrees  in   the   University,   system 

of,  142,  148;  expense  of  obtaining, 

162;  laxity  in  conferring,  284. 
Denifle,  Pere,   on   Abelard,   4;    his 

classification  of    the  universities, 

48. 
Diterminance,  the,  149. 
Dissections  in  the   medical   schools 

of  the  Middle  Ages,  255  et  seq. 
Disputation,  mania  for,  in  the  Middle 

Ages,  189. 
"  Doctor,"  use  of  the  term,  144. 


Doctorate,  the,  160;  great  expense 
of  obtaining  the  degree,  161. 

Dole,  University  of,  39;  classes  of 
students  at,  270,  274. 

Donatus's  Barbarism,  182. 

Douai,  University  at,  43. 

E 

Ergot,  the  term,  190  note. 

Examinations  and  diplomas,  system 
of,  originated  in  the  universities, 
139. 

Examinations  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
complexity  of,  161;  abuses  attend- 
ing, 163. 

F 

Faculty,  defined,  use  of  the  term, 
107. 

Faculties,  formation  of,  108;  the 
superior.  111  ;  discord  between, 
271 ;  professors  not  always  re- 
spected, 272. 

Ferrara,  University  of,  44. 

Florence,  University  of,  44. 

G 

Garde  gardienne,  the  right  of,  82. 

German  universities,  active  part  of, 
in  public  life,  295. 

Gerson,  293;  protest  of,  against  cor- 
poral punishment,  303. 

Grammar  schools  at  Paris,  193. 

Gratian,  the  Decretals  of,  235. 

Grenoble,  the  University  of,  66. 

Grosseteste,  Robert,  studied  at  Paris, 
56;  his  influence,  58. 

II 

TTabita,  the,  of  Barbarossa,  76. 

Harenga,  the,  153. 

Heidelberg,  University  of,  62,  69. 

Heloise,  9. 

Holidays,  University,  177. 

Hopkins,  Johns,  28. 


Irnerius,  223;  his  method,  225. 


INDEX 


313 


Lanfranc,  5. 

Law,  teaching  of,  in  the  university, 
214;  canon  and  civil,  215 ;  Roman, 
216;  prohibition  of  the  teaching  of 
civil,  217;  professors  of,  218;  civil, 
favored  by  Clement  V,  220;  teach- 
ing of  civil,  influence  of,  221;  Ro- 
man, never  completely  abandoned, 
223, 

Lendit  fair,  122  and  note. 

Lerida,  University  of,  W. 

Licentiate's  degree,  examination 
and  conditions  for,  155. 

Lisbon,  University  of,  65. 

Locke  at  Montpellier,  247. 

Logic,  study  of,  176,  180,  182,  200. 

Lombard,  I'eter,  55;  universities  fre- 
quented by  him,  and  his  teachings, 
66;  his  Book  of  the  Sentences, 
152,  208. 

M 

Master,  title  of,  equivalent  to  that  of 
doctor,  157. 

Medical  studies  during  the  Middle 
Ages,  240  et  seq.  ;  in  tlie  universi- 
ties, 242,  249  et  se(j. ;  influence  of 
Arabian  medicine,  242. 

Medical  sciences,  the  chief  study  in 
the  Spanish  universities,  30. 

Medicine,  practice  of,  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  253  et  seq. 

Medicine,  Faculty  of,  242,  244  et  seq., 
248,  252,  257. 

Mclun,  Robert  of,  67. 

Merton,  Walter  de,  college  founda- 
tion of,  196. 

Methods  of  study  in  the  universities, 
184  et  seq. 

Military  service,  universities  exempt 
from,  85. 

Montpellier,  University  of,  63, 66,  80 ; 
number  of  students  at,  100;  "Na- 
tions "  in,  105,  224;  devotion  of  the 
doctors  in  the  plague  at,  259;  Fac- 
ulty of  Medicine  in,  246;  Jcvrs  at, 
247,  248;  students'  riot  at,  275; 
ascetic  rules  at,  278. 


N 
Nantes,  University  of,  44. 
"  Nations "   in   the   universities,   98 

et  seq.,  101, 104,  105,  224;  had  each 

its  special  patron,  106. 
Navarre,  College  of,  at  Paris,  206. 
Nuntii  of  the  universities,  133. 

O 

Odo,  5. 

Orleans,  University  of,  29,  48;  exer- 
cises the  right  of  cessulio,  87;  its 
special  privileges,  91;  number  of 
student.s  at,  100;  university  of 
law  only,  215. 

Oxford,  the  study  of  theology  car- 
ried to,  from  Paris,  30;  prepara- 
tions for  the  University  of,  57,  02; 
the  rector  of,  124;  and  Cambridge, 
197;   political  powers  of,  295. 


Padua,  University  of,  65 ;  civil  immu- 
nity of,  79;  "  Nations  "  in,  105. 

Palencia,  University  of,  27. 

Pandects  of  Justinian,  223. 

Paris,  University  of.  Abelard  its 
real  founder,  3,  4;  its  precise  ori- 
gin unknown,  26;  the  prototype 
of  many  others,  27,  01,  0'!;  begin- 
ning of,  28,  29;  dialectics  and 
theology  emphasized  at,  30;  the 
rapid  growth  of,  55;  men  of  mark 
at,  55;  Oxonians  at,  5»);  the  leader- 
ship of,  09;  defends  its  privileges, 
75  ;  privileires  granted  to,  by  the 
Pope  Celestine  III,  77,  and  by 
Philip  Augustus,  78;  has  the  ri>;lit 
of  rc.isdtio  conferred  upon  it,  >>S; 
exercises  the  right,  89 ;  the  form 
assumed  in,  by  the  "  Naiiutis,"  lul 
et  .VC'/.  ,■  the  Faculties  at,  H':', ;  n-- 
lations  of  the  Faculties  and  the 
"Nations,"  104;  distinction  be- 
tween the  Faculty  of  .Arts  and  the 
ollur  Faculties,  101,  110;  nctor 
of,  115,  120;  prerogatives  of,  121  ; 


314 


INDEX 


election  of,  123;  the  three  degrees 
in,  148;  a  picture  of  the  life  of  a 
student  in,  167  et  seq.;  Faculty  of 
Arts  in,  175;  the  theological  uni- 
versity, 201,  203,  214,  264;  morals 
of  the  students  of,  276;  authority 
of,  288;  the  docile  child  of  royalty, 
292;  takes  part  in  religious  quar- 
rels, 293 ;  asserted  its  rights  against 
the  popes,  297. 

Pavia,  University  of,  44. 

Pcabody,  George,  28. 

Pedagogics,  the,  191. 

Petrarch,  213;  studied  law  at  Mont- 
pellier,  233 ;  his  Invectives  against 
a  Physician,  258;  his  memories 
of  Montpellier,  264. 

Placentin,  226. 

Plater,  Felix,  99. 

Poitiers,  University  of,  39,  43,  84; 
number  of  students  at,  100;  "Na- 
tions "  in,  105. 

Porr^e,  Gilbert  de  la,  55;  the  Six 
Principles  of,  182. 

Prague,  University  of,  the  first  Ger- 
man university,  55,  61 ;  "  Nations  " 
in,  105. 

Priscian's  Grammar,  182. 

Privileges  in  the  Middle  Ages,  73; 
of  the  universities,  73  et  seq.;  ex- 
tended to  certain  classes  of  trades- 
men, 93. 

Procurator,  the,  103,  130. 

Professors,  university,  method  of 
lecturing  and  customs  of,  171;  and 
students  in  the  universities,  267, 
281 ;  habits  of,  279  ;  youth  of,  281 ; 
pay  of,  282 ;  poverty  of,  284 ;  celi- 
bacy of,  285. 

Propositum,  the,  153. 

Pulleyne,  Robert,  63. 


Q 


Quintilian,  140. 


Rabelais  at  Montpellier,  247. 2.52, 273. 
Hector,  of  the  University  of   Paris, 


115 ;  prerogatives  of,  121  et  seq.; 
age  and  pay,  123  et  seq. ;  tempo- 
rary character  of  his  functions, 
125;  honors  of,  126;  pay  of,  128; 
installation  of,  126. 

Religious  orders,  the  heirs  of  the 
monastic  schools,  8. 

Renaissance,  age  of,  universities 
founded  in,  58. 


Saint  Anselra,  5. 

Salamanca,  University  of,  47;  birth 
and  rank  of,  .59  et  seq.;  supported 
Columbus,  59;  life  at,  during  the 
Middle  Ages,  97  et  seq. 

Salerno,  medical  school  in,  242  et 
seq.,  245. 

Salisbury,  John  of,  a  pupil  of  Abe- 
lard,  16,  67 ;  enthusiasm  of,  for  the 
University  of  I'aris,  264. 

Saragossa,  University  of,  64. 

Schools  in  the  Dark  Ages,  5. 

Sentences,  the,  by  Peter  Lombard, 
influence  of  Abelard's  method  in, 
22. 

Sienua,  I'niversity  of,  65. 

Sorbon,  Robert  de,  on  the  examina- 
tions for  the  licentiate's  degree, 
156;  his  six  rules,  300. 

"  Sorboiine,"  the  origin  of,  205. 

Students,  university,  numbers  of, 
99,  167;  poverty  of,  260;  relation 
between  professors  and,  267;  rela- 
tions between  each  other,  268; 
equality  between,  270;  faults  of, 
272  et  seq.;  profligacy  of,  276; 
bad  breeding  of,  277. 

Siudinm,  the  term,  28. 

Studinm  generalc,  the  term,  32. 

Sully,  Maurice  de,  55. 

Surgical  science  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
248  et  seq.,  2.57. 

Syndic,  the  university,  131. 


Tuxes,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  84;  uni- 
versities exempt  from,  84. 


INDEX 


315 


Theology  not  taught  in  all  univer- 
sities, 29;  rank  of  the  study  of, 
200  et  seq.;  Faculty  of,  importance 
of,  202;  books  used  by,  207; 
Scholastic,  its  principal  character- 
istics, 209;  problems  of,  211; 
always  associated  with  philosophic 
studies,  212. 

Toulouse,  University  of,  63,  80; 
number  of  students  at,  100;  stud- 
ies in,  181. 

Turin,  University  of,  its  special  priv- 
ileges, 91. 

U 

Universities,  the  first,  their  origin 
gradual,  25;  began  by  specializa- 
tion, not  as  complete  bodies  of 
instruction,  29;  at  first  like  the 
trade-guilds,  .33,  34,  140;  fostered 
by  the  popes,  3t5,  38;  and  by  the 
civil  authorities,  41;  principle  of 
classification  of,  48 ;  multiplication 
of,  49;  list  of,  in  the  order  of  their 
founding,  50  etseq.;  chief,  belong- 
ing to  the  age  of  the  Renaissance, 
53;  modern,  54;  of  Germany,  54; 
privileges  and  immunities  of,  73  et 
seq.;  little  republics,  74,  114,  137; 
criminal  jurisdiction  in,  78  et  seq.; 
exempt  from  all  taxes,  84;  and 
from  military  service,  85;  special 
privileges  enjoyed  by  some,  91  et 


seq.;  ecclesiastical  immunities  of, 
92;  abuses  of  their  privileges,  93; 
solicitude  of  princes  and  popes  for 
their  welfare,  94;  sources  of  their 
prosperity,  95;  distinguishing 
characteristics  of,  96  et  seq.;  num- 
ber of  students  attending,  99;  the 
"Nations"  in  the,  98,  101;  self- 
governing,  115;  the  office  of  chan- 
cellor in,  119  et  seq.;  office  of 
rector  in,  120  et  seq.;  other  officers 
of,  129  et  seq.;  assemblies  of,  134; 
government  of,  136;  the  first 
bodies  to  exercise  self-government, 
137;  examinations  and  diplomas 
in,  139;  system  of  degrees  in,  142; 
the  daily  life  and  customs  of  a, 
167  et  seq.;  influence  of,  on  society, 
287  et  seq.;  internal  life  of,  263  et 
seq.;  large  share  of,  in  general  edu- 
cation, 265;  poverty  of  the  stu- 
dents, 266;  relation  between  the 
professors  and  the  students,  267; 
use  of  the  rod  in,  279;  take  part  in 
public  afl'airs,  289  et  seq.;  centres 
of  intellectual  development,  296; 
liberty  of  spirit  in,  298  et  seq.;  the 
immense  services  of,  304. 
University,"  original  significance 
of  the  term,  31. 


Vacarius,  62. 


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' '  The  Scribners  are  rendering  an  important  service  to  the  cause  of  educa- 
tion in  the  production  of  the  '  Great  Educators  Series. '  ' ' —Jourtial  of  Education. 

' '  We  have  not  too  many  series  devoted  to  the  history  and  the  theory  of  edu- 
cation, and  the  one  represented  at  the  present  moment  by  the  two  volumes  before 
us  promises  to  take  an  important  place— a  leading  place -amongst  the  few  we 
have. ' ' — London  Educational  Times. 


ARISTOTLE. 


The  whole  of  ancient  pedagogy  is  Professor  Davidson's  subject,  the 
course  of  education  being  traced  up  to  Aristotle, — an  account  of  whose 
life  and  system  forms,  of  course,  the  main  portion  of  the  book, — and 
down  from  that  great  teacher,  as  well  as  philosopher,  through  the  decline 
of  ancient  civilization.  An  appendix  discusses  "The  Seven  Liberal  Arts," 
and  paves  the  way  for  the  next  work  in  chronological  sequence,- — Professor 
"West's,  on  Alcuin.  The  close  relations  between  Greek  education  and 
Greek  social  and  political  life  are  kept  constantly  in  view  by  Professor 
Davidson.  A  special  and  very  attractive  feature  of  the  work  is  the  cita- 
tion, chiefly  in  P^nglish  translation,  of  passages  from  original  sources 
expressing  the  spirit  of  the  different  theories  described. 

' '  I  am  very  glad  to  see  this  excellent  contribution  to  the  history  of  educa- 
tion. Professor  Davidson's  work  is  admirable.  His  topic  is  one  of  the  most 
profitable  in  the  entire  history  of  culture." — W.  T.  Hakkis,  U.  S.  Covimissiouer 
of  Educa  tion. 

"  '  Aristotle  '  is  delightful  reading.  I  know  nothing  in  English  that  covers 
the  field  of  Greek  Education  so  well.  You  will  find  it  very  hard  to  maintain 
this  level  in  the  later  works  of  the  series,  but  I  can  wish  you  nothing  better 
than  that  you  may  do  so." — G.  Stanley  Hall,  Clark  University. 

ALCUIN. 

Professor  West  aims  to  develop  the  story  of  educational  institutions 
in  Europe  from  the  beginning  of  the  influence  of  Christianity  on  education 
to  the  origin  of  the  Universities  and  the  first  beginnings  of  the  modern 
movement.  A  careful  analysis  is  made  of  the  effects  of  Greek  and 
Roman  thought  on  the  educational  theory  and  practice  of  the  early 
Christian,  and  their  great  system  of  schools,  and  its  results  are  studied 
with  care  and  in  detail.  The  personality  of  Alcuin  enters  largely  into  the 
story,  because  of  his  dominating  influence  in  the  movement. 

' '  Die  von  Ihnen  mir  freundlichst  zugeschickte  Schrift  des  Herrn  Professor 
West  ijber  Alcuin  habe  ich  mit  lebhaftem  Interesse  gelesen  und  bin  uberrascht 
davon  in  Nord  America  eine  so  eingehende  Beschaftigung  mit  unserer  Vorzeit 
und  eine  so  ausgebreitete  Kenntniss  der  Literature  iiber  diesen  Gegenstand  zu 
flnden.  Es  sind  mir  wohl  Einzelheiten  begesnet  an  denen  ich  etwas  auszu- 
setzen  fand,  die  ganze  Auffassung  und  Darsteilung  aber  kann  ich  nur  als  sehr 
wohl  gelungen  und  zutreffend  bezeichnen." — I'kofkssor  Wattenhach,  Jierlin. 

' '  I  take  pleasure  in  saying  that  '  Alcuin  '  seems  to  me  to  combine  careful 
scholarly  investigation  with  popularity,  and  condensation  with  interest  of  de- 
tail, in  a  truly  admirable  way."— Professor  G.  T.  Ladu,  of  Yak. 


THE   GREAT  EDUCATORS 


ABELARD. 


M.  Compayre,  the  well-known  French  educationist,  has  prepared  in  this 
volume  an  account  of  the  origin  of  the  great  European  Universities 
that  is  at  once  the  most  scientific  and  the  most  interesting  in  the  English 
language.  Naturally  the  University  of  Paris  is  the  central  figure  in  the 
account ;  and  the  details  of  its  early  organization  and  influence  are  fully 
given.  Its  connection  with  the  other  great  universities  of  the  Middle 
Ages  and  with  modern  university  movement  is  clearly  pointed  out. 
Abelard,  whose  system  of  teaching  and  disputation  was  one  of  the  earliest 
signs  of  the  rising  universities,  is  the  typical  figure  of  the  movement ;  and 
M.  Compayre  has  given  a  sketch  of  his  character  and  work,  from  an 
entirely  new  point  of  view,  that  is  most  instructive. 

' '  '  Abelard  '  may  fairly  be  called  the  founder  of  university  education  in 
Europe,  and  we  have  in  this  volume  a  description  of  his  work  and  a  careful 
analysis  of  his  character.  As  the  founder  of  the  great  Paris  University  in  the 
thirteenth  century  the  importance  of  his  work  can  hardly  be  overestimated. 
The  chapter  devoted  to  Abelard  himself  is  an  intensely  interesting  one,  and  the 
other  chapters  are  of  marked  value,  devoted  as  they  are  to  the  origin  and  early 
history  of  universities.  .  .  .  The  volume  is  a  notable  educational  work.  "— 
Boston  Daily  Traveler. 

LOYOLA. 

This  work  is  a  critical  and  authoritative  statement  of  the  educational 
principles  and  method  adopted  in  the  Society  of  Jesus,  of  which  the 
author  is  a  distinguished  member.  The  first  part  is  a  sketch,  biograph- 
ical and  historical,  of  the  dominant  and  directing  personality  of  Ignatius, 
the  Founder  of  the  order,  and  his  comrades,  and  of  the  establishment  and 
early  administrations  of  the  Society.  In  the  second  an  elaborate  analysis 
of  the  system  of  studies  is  given,  beginning  with  an  account  of  Aquaviva 
and  the  Ratio  Stiidioruni,  and  considering,  under  the  general  heading  of 
"the  formation  of  the  master,"  courses  of  literature  and  philosophy,  of 
divinity  and  allied  sciences,  repetition,  disputation,  and  dictation ;  and 
under  that  of  "  f(jrmation  of  the  scholar,"  symmetry  of  the  courses  pur- 
sued, the  prelection,  classic  literatures,  school  management  and  control, 
examinations  and  graduation,  grades  and  courses. 

"  This  volume  on  St.  Ignatius  of  '  Loyola  and  the  Educational  System  of  the 
Jesuits,'  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Hughes,  will  probably  be  welcomed  by  others  be- 
sides those  specially  interested  in  the  theories  and  methods  of  education. 
Written  by  a  member  of  the  Jesuit  Society,  it  comes  to  us  with  authority,  and 
presents  a  complete  and  well  -  arranged  survey  of  the  work  of  educational 
development  carried  out  by  Ignatius  and  his  followers." —j^f/''/^^"  Saturday 
Revuiu. 

FROEBEL. 

Friedrich  Froebel  stands  for  the  movement  known  both  in  Europe 
and  in  this  country  as  the  New  Education,  more  completely  than  any 
other  single  name.  The  kindergarten  movement,  and  the  whole  de- 
velopment of  modern  methods  of  teaching,  have  been  largely  stimulated 
by,  if  not  entirely  based  upon,  his  philosojihical  exposition  of  education. 
It  is  not  believed  that  any  other  account  of  Froebel  and  his  work  is  so 
complete  and  exhaustive,  as  the  author  has  for  many  years  been  a  student 
of  Froebel's  principles  and  methods  not  only  in  books,  but  also  in  actual 
practice  in  the  kindergarten.     Mr.  Bowen  is  a  frecjuent  examiner  of  kiu- 


THE  GREAT  EDUCATORS 

dergartens,  of  the  children  in  them,  and  of  students  who  are  trained  to  be 
kindergarten  teachers. 

' '  No  one,  in  England  or  America,  is  fitted  to  give  a  more  sympathetic  or  lucid 
interpretation  of  Froebel  than  Mr.  Courthope  Bowen.  ...  Mr.  Bowen's  book 
will  be  a  moi.t  important  addition  to  any  library,  and  no  stuaent  of  Froebel  can 
afford  to  do  without  it. ' ' — Kate  Douglas  Wiggin,  New  York  City. 

HERB ART. 

In  this  booV,  President  De  Garmo  has  given,  for  the  first  time  in  the 
English  language,  a  systematic  analysis  of  the  Herbartian  theory  of  ed- 
ucation, which  is  now  so  much  studied  and  discussed  in  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States,  as  well  as  in  oermany.  Not  only  does  the 
volume  contain  an  exposition  of  the  theory  as  expounded  by  Herbart 
himself,  but  it  traces  in  detail  the  development  of  that  theory  and  the 
additions  to  it  made  by  such  distinguished  names  as  Ziller,  Story,  Frick, 
Rein,  and  the  American  School  of  Herbartians.  Especially  valuable  will 
be  found  Dr.  De  Garmo's  careful  and  systematic  exposition  of  the  prob- 
lems that  centre  around  the  concentration  and  correlation  of  studies. 
These  problems  are  generally  acknowledged  to  be  the  most  pressing  and 
important  at  present  before  the  teachers  of  the  country. 

' '  Some  one  has  said  there  can  be  no  great  need  without  the  means  of  supply- 
iirg  such  need,  and  no  sooner  did  the  fraternity  realize  its  need  of  a  knowledge 
of  the  essentials  of  Herbart  than  Dr.  De  Garmo's  excellent  work  on  '  Herbart  and 
the  Herbartians,'  by  Scribner's  Sons  of  New  York,  appeared,  a  book  which, 
costing  but  a  dollar,  gives  all  that  the  teacher  really  needs,  and  gives  it  with 
devout  loyalty  and  sensible  discrimination.  It  is  the  work  of  a  believer,  a  de- 
votee, an  enthusiast,  but  it  is  the  masterpiece  of  the  writer  who  has  not  for- 
gotten what  he  owes  to  his  reputation  as  a  scholar  in  his  devotion  to  bis 
master. ' ' — Journal  of  Education. 

THE  ARNOLDS. 

No  book  heretofore  published  concerning  one  or  both  of  the  Arnolds 
has  accomplished  the  task  performed  in  the  present  instance  by  Sir 
Joshua  Fitch.  A  long-time  colleague  of  Matthew  Arnold  in  the  British 
Educational  Department,  the  author — leaving  biography  aside — has,  with 
unusual  skill,  written  a  succinct  and  fascinating  account  of  the  important 
services  rendered  to  the  educational  interests  of  (Jreat  Britain  by  the 
Master  of  Rugby  and  his  famous  son.  The  varied  and  successful  efforts 
of  the  latter  in  behalf  of  a  better  secondary  education  during  his  long 
official  career  of  thirty-five  years  as  Inspector  of  Training  Schools,  no 
less  than  the  notable  effect  produced  at  Rugby  by  the  inspiring  example 
of  Thomas  Arnold's  high-minded  character  and  enthusiastic  scholarship, 
are  admirably  presented.  Whatever  in  the  teaching  of  both  seems  likely 
to  prove  of  permanent  value  has  been  judiciously  selected  by  the  author 
from  the  mass  of  their  writings,  and  incorporated  in  the  present  volume. 
The  American  educational  public,  which  cannot  fail  to  acknowledge  a 
lasting  debt  of  gratitude  to  the  Arnolds,  father  and  soi.,  ivill  certainly  wel- 
come this  sympathetic  exposition  of  their  influence  and  opinions. 

"  The  book  is  opportune,  for  the  Amoldian  tradition,  though  widely  diffused 
in  America,  is  not  well  based  on  accurate  knowledge  and  is  pretty  much  in 
the  air.  Dr.  Fitch  seems  the  fittest  person  by  reason  of  his  spiritual  sympathy 
with  the  father  and  his  personal  association  with  the  son,  to  sketch  in  this  brief 
way  the  two  most  typical  modern  English  educators.  And  he  has  done  his  work__ 
almost  ideally  well  within  his  limitations  of  purpose.  .  .  .  The  two  men 
live  in  these  pages  as  they  were. '  '—Educational Review,  New  York.  Iftf    ^  f 


'St.,' 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


JUL  8     1958 
JAN   9 

JUL  9     1959 

JULl  8  1959 

JUL2  9  1959 
AUG  5     1959 

OCT  2  3  1962 
OCT  3  0  1962 

NOV  1  0  1964 
FEB  2     1985 

"^0!5?968 


SUBJECT  TQ  FINE  IF 


EDUCATlOiN 


m^ 


19(i7 


ED./  PSYCH. 


OEC  -  8  196B 


DEC  -  «  1969 


USRARY 


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SEP  2  4  1*i7P 

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SEP  I  ^ 


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Form  L9-32ot-8,'57(.€8680s4)444 


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Education 
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